Roy Joseph Cotton – September 11, '53 – March 10, '85

Roy commenced writing poetry during his latter school years. He read prolifically and was passionate about music and was a devote to Bob Dylan. He wrote many plays or "Musical Paintings" as he called them, and was also busy with two works "Multimythicum" and "Girlpools, Whirpools, and other gusts of Twirling Hair". He wrote from the security of a warm, close family in a comfortable Cape Town (South Africa) suburb. Yet most of his huge output of poems reflect a consuming angst. It was an angst which drove him to search for peace throughout books, music, writing, and religion, and it led to ultimate despair. His highly idiosyncratic way with language and the intense pressure of his emotional and spiritual concerns make his poetry compelling and disturbing reading. His untimely death at age of 31 cut short his promising career as a poet.

CONCERNING TWO NURSEVIRGINS MET AT NEURO C ONE FINE DAY:

Gingerbrune and Pruney,
two nursevirgins are you still; but
even now the dickey bird i
hear ask: ‘Where will you
be when Experience has pulled you over.
the hill; where will you be
when your eager fascination for things
has run still? Today the
March violets do blossom. Today the glare
from glances is weak. O virginblossoms;
where will you be
when the leaves are
too chattered
to speak?’

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