Six November, a poem by Rethabile Masilo head website
The line is long; in it people have been here waiting behind an old man who arrived before everyone, his sponge mattress still flattened near the door— a door like no other. Nothing is new, a snake is long, as when South Africa queued to quell itself those many years ago, waited to cut its own head off with a panga for the first time after years and years of venom, not knowing that its head will sprout back each time more determined than ever. Though it is cold out here at this time of the year you do not care at all� and maybe it is all the better because no one will go to no beach, to no picnic in the park, but will be here standing in unison with their bredren before this entr�e, which is like no other, with their minds all made about which part of the snake to cut and remove. On this day in 1806, a line extended from this booth to every other end of town, and Lincoln was elected. Do you feel like an extension of those four hundred and twelve score years and four