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.

CAPE TOWN DUSK

The sadness of dusk
suffuses the skies,
The gentian tonesi
of violins soar
above the crowds.
Lost petals become
the dream of the winddark.
The sap of summer fills
the gloves of the bay.
Everywhere the music
of evening simmers like a stove.
The harmony of motion
defies the stroke of the clock. .
Seconds are cats
creeping through shadows.
The pavements are
as wide as a whale.
The scent of what has been
coalesces with the structural
simplicity of the mountain
where the clouds dine
like tired guests.

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