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.

I STUMBLE

as the beds sail
through the sunset

the dark dreams of sheets fill my being
with tumours:

…the deep loneliness in
the bathroom where the
roses are bleeding . ..

my black kisses are the scabs of a TV
conscience that won’t
let the lilies drown in
the bathtub

now that the gentian doves are
weeping and the sickness
is ready with
the knife i

stumble through the alleys
towards your harbour where
already the lights are missing