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.

Another Suppressed Starling Disappointed

ANOTHER SUPPRESSED STARLING
DISAPPOINTED

I was reaching out for
the crags down yonder,
thinking that in those
stony caps i could find
roseate riches only dreams
can offer to those who wish
to outsoar the sky. But
even while i was planning
how to reconstruct the
lower greenery, a Hand appear-
ed from seemingly nowhere,
and thrust me back into the
gutter where with the rest
i was told i belong.

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