DONAUTA WATSON

Hey me see one squirrel lick the ground just now from way up pon top a one tree and the way the squirrel lick the pavement me think a did one big stick or tree trunk me just hear, twwaukk.

When me see the squirrel me seh, me so frighten because, me nuh that far from weh the squirrel did land, me seh me so frighten me tek me time because the squirrel ah just a jump up. You know right after you get a lick and go, twwaukk, yuh just start jump up. But the way the squirrel so disoriented it can’t even get up, it just a jump and fall back down, and a get up and a fall back down and a tan up and a fall back down and it just a fall back down and everybody stop. The people dem weh a ride them bike and a run —  is Prospect Park me did deh – and the people dem weh a push stroller like me, dem stop and a seh, is what happen? The squirrel just, go twwaukk.

After yuh get a lick like that you can’t just jump suh. A squirrel deh, musta did frighten. Me never know squirrel can fall from so far pon top a one tree and guh suh, twwaukk. No man, a squirrel deh frighten. Frighten it did frighten the way it hit the asphalt so, like one uhmm, like one uhmm heavy stick or tree branch. Me nuh believe seh a squirrel deh make it. No way, no how. Maybe maybe me nuh know bout dem bones or dem head but me nuh believe a squirrel deh make it, after it go so, twwaukk, pon the asphalt.

No man, a squirrel deh, couldnt a, it couldnt a make it and me not even care fi squirrel, me just a seh how it happen so fast. And oh God, it so sad, so sad how it did a, did a jump up, and tan up, and couldnt get up, me think a dead it did a dead enuh, me think a dead it a dead and me did waan seh – Oh God somebody help it, help it please. But weh yuh a go do, cause a wild animal and the animal inna dem uhhm you know in dem environment.

Me a walk home and the thought just deh wid me, a bother me, drop right in front me enuh, could a drop right pon top a the stroller. Me did so close, me cant believe, me did so frighten, the squirrel so frighten, it just a, just a try get up, just a try jump up and it so friggin sad oh things just happen so quick. Yuh haffi be careful man when yuh a climb tree, haffi be careful even when yuh a expert, cause squirrel anno anno tree climbing expert? Look oh the squirrel just fall out a the tree and just lick the asphalt suh, twwaukk, like one big tree branch.

Weh yuh a go do? Carry the squirrel guh the vet, me nuh know, cause when yuh fall from way  on top a one tree and yuh go so twwaukk. A fall like that in front a everybody suh  and just a try get up and a tan up and fall back down and everybody a look, a expert guh so — twwaukk.

Donauta Watson is a Jamaican-born poet, writer, performer, and arts administrator based in Brooklyn, New York. She often writes in Jamaican Patwa, using the language to explore the undocumented American experience and the intersections of identity, migration, and belonging. Her writing has appeared in The Yale Review, New Square, Misfit Sisters, PEN America’s Dreaming Out Loud Anthology (Volumes I–III), Revista de la Universidad de México, and Spoken Black Girl. She has performed her work at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Nuyorican Poets Café, and read at the PEN World Voices Festival. Watson holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from New York University’s MFA Program in Paris. She currently works in arts administration at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.