Davidson Garrett (born September 11, 1952), also known as King Lear of the Taxi, is an American poet and actor living in New York City, New York. He drove a New York City yellow taxi cab from 1978 until 2018 to supplement his acting and writing career. Garrett has authored six books of poetry, and has been published in many literary journals and magazines. Early life Garrett was born September 11, 1952, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Garrett came to New York City in 1972 to pursue an acting career and also because he is gay and was looking for a supportive community. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and with Alice Spivak at the Herbert Berghof Studio in Greenwich Village. Garrett graduated from The City College of New York with a B.A. and M.S.in Education. Garrett lived at the McBurney YMCA in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea from 1978 until 2000, which was the famous YMCA that the Village People based their pop song anthem on, “Y.M.C.A.” Poetry Poems and other writings have appeared in The New York Times, Xavier Review, The Paddock Review, Sensations Magazine, First Literary Review-East, The Ekphrastic Review, The Stillwater Review, The Episcopal New Yorker, Marco Polo Arts Magazine, Conceit Magazine, Thorny Locust, and Podium, the online literary journal of the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center. His poetry has been anthologized in From Somewhere To Nowhere: The End of the “American Dream” (Autonomedia, 2017), Beyond the Rift: Poets of the Palisades (The Poets Press, 2010), and in Pears, Prose and Poetry (Poets Wear Prada / Eggplant Press, 2011). Garrett has authored six books of poetry, including his most recent title, “Cabaletta: Poems of a New York City Taxi Driver” published in 2022 by Finishing Line Press. ‘’Arias of a Rhapsodic Spirit,” a full-length collection was released in 2020 from Kelsay Books, and two chapbooks, “What Happened to the Man Who Taught Me Beowulf? and Other Poems”, released in 2017, and “Southern Low Protestant Departure: A Funeral Poem”, released in 2015. An earlier chapbook “To Tell The Truth I Wanted To Be Kitty Carlisle and Other Poems” was published by Finishing Line Press in 2013. Garrett's first full-length collection, “King Lear of the Taxi: Musings of a New York City Actor/Taxi Driver,” was published in 2006 by Advent Purple Press. In 2013 Garrett was invited to take part in a taxi drivers' writing workshop