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 South African Day

A SOUTH AFRICAN DAY

The police vans rattle
through our windy cities.
Everything is as it
usually is. The garden
‘boy’ is friendly and i
feel pain as i watch him
spade the earth. The milk
‘boy’ is called ‘Milkie’
by the woman who works
in the chemist. The delivery
‘boy’ calls me ‘Mister Roy’
and does not mind when i
tell him the wind is a
dangerous thief. The suburbs
are sunny. Everything is
as it normally is.

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