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.

SYMPATHY:

(for Colleen:)

Ideal Custard dare
not slip away beyond
the burning path.

And the infinite
whim of tidy sleep
need never mock the tear.

only the ideal luck
of preaching lavender
folly can make of a
grisly bear an ounce
of rancid muck.

Only the covenant inherent
in the Pastures of Stars
can feed our brittle boneings.