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.

A Cockroach Meditating

A COCKROACH MEDITATING

A cockroach meditating
upon the nature of
things does not come to
a definite conclusion.
Why apples shrivel in
baskets. Why tufts of
hair smoulder in the sun.
Why the lawn injects
strange vitamins into the
earth. All these things
puzzle the cockroach who
has no way of perceiving
the blight of human
aspiration; the seasonal
icepeaks of the soul.

One thought on “A Cockroach Meditating”

Mark on October 7, 2015 at 5:52 am said:

Using a poem for inaugural – miss him so much

One thought on “A Cockroach Meditating”

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