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.

DEATH ONLY

Stonesombre
man enters
the grave and
forgets all about
the memory of
roses

The slit earth smiles
as the bones line
up; some with a bright
shirt, others with a
tongue too frightened to
challenge

iii

Death comes at last
to collect the
milk buckets. While
the raven is
sleeping, Death comes

All vanity is smashed.
The sun does not work
for nothing. Death
pops
in
for tea