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.

Sulinkama Transkei

SULINKAMA, TRANSKEI

No princesses walk here.
No wheelbarrows carry silk
crowns or nightgowns of
lavender to decorate the
poverty. O undying beast
of eveningsorrow, do you
not care for your children
who roam the fields and
are hungry? 0 sky, vast
winding sheet that entombs
the hunger, how can you
be indifferent to the funerals
weeping like barren women?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply