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.

HOUSING ESTATES

sallow cartons filled
with dusty heat; the
mirth of meat: appliances

o where are the uncles
of the frost now that
the ferns are basking?

iii

the sullen sills
and the curtains;
the plants feeding
on the news announcer’s
shadows

will the clouds bring
respite to this land
of tin; the corrugated
dreams of the shoppers?