We Real Cool
{{Short description|Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks}}{{About|the poem|the book|We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity}}
"We Real Cool" is a poem written in 1959 by poet Gwendolyn Brooks and published in her 1960 book The Bean Eaters, her third collection of poetry. The poem has been featured on broadsides, re-printed in literature textbooks and is widely studied in literature classes. It is cited as "one of the most celebrated examples of jazz poetry".{{cite book |last1=Kimmelman |first1=Burt |last2=Cone |first2=Temple |last3=Huff |first3=Randall |title=The Facts on File Companion to American Poetry |date=2008 |publisher=Facts On File |isbn=978-0-8160-6950-7 |page=627 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kWEjAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Meta DuEwa |title=African-American Jazz Poetry: Orality, Prosody and Performance |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University |pages=52, 56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAEhAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Meta DuEwa |title=The Muse is Music: Jazz Poetry from the Harlem Renaissance to Spoken Word |date=2011 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-03621-7 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UAI561aPZMC |language=en}}
It consists of four verses of two rhyming lines each. The final word in most lines is "we". The next line describes something that "we" do, such as play pool or drop out of school. Brooks has said that the "we"s are meant to be said softly, as though the protagonists in the poem are questioning the validity of their existence.{{cite journal |last1=Brooks |first1=Gwendolyn |last2=Stavros |first2=George |title=An Interview with Gwendolyn Brooks |journal=Contemporary Literature |date=1970 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.2307/1207502|jstor=1207502 }} The last lines of the poem, "We / Die soon," indicate the climax, which comes as a surprise after the boasts that have been made previously. It also suggests a moment of self-awareness about the choices that the players have made.
Origin
File:Shooting pool on Saturday afternoon, Clarksdale, Mississippi... (3110573042).jpg in Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1939.]]
In an interview Brooks stated that her inspiration for the poem came from her walking in her community and passing a pool hall full of boys. When considering this she thought to herself “I wonder how they feel about themselves?” Instead of wondering about why they were not in school, Brooks captured this scene and turned it into the seven pool players at the Golden Shovel.{{Citation|last=Robert Ricardo Reese|title=Gwendolyn Brooks reads We Real Cool|date=2013-11-01|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaVfLwZ6jes |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/oaVfLwZ6jes |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|accessdate=2016-10-31}}{{cbignore}}
Themes and meaning
The poem covers a multitude of themes despite its short length, including rebellion and youth. The unique structure offers a subtitle at the beginning of the poem where Brooks writes "The Pool Players / Seven at the Golden Shovel". This gives the poem its characters and setting.
Brooks also said that the seven pool players in the poem are fighting the establishment with their rebellious actions. She states that the establishment is represented by the month of June. In the same interview, Brooks explains how the poem has even been banned in some areas due to the use of the word "jazz" due to a perceived sexual nature — which, Brooks said, was not her intention, as she simply intended for it to represent music.
In popular culture
The poem inspired Terrance Hayes' creation of the poetic form "golden shovel".
The poem was printed in the booklet of Chicago metalcore band The Killing Tree's 2003 We Sing Sin, whose title is a reference to the poem.
It is referenced in the song "We Real Cool" by the band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on their 2013 album Push the Sky Away.
The band The Jazz June takes their name from this poem.
The poem is featured in Dominique Morisseau's 2017 play Pipeline.{{cite web |last1=Russo |first1=Robert |title=REVIEW: We Die Soon – Morisseau's "Pipeline" |url=https://www.stageleft.nyc/blog/2017/8/27/review-we-die-soon-morisseaus-pipeline |website=Stage Left |accessdate=24 September 2019 |date=27 August 2017}}
The poem is referenced in Bruce Springsteen's song "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)."
The poem is heavily referenced in Lucky Boys Confusion's song "Gwendolyn B. Sings Sin" from the Album "Growing Out Of It".
The poem is referenced as the title of bell hooks's book We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity.
The song "Gwendolynn's Apprehension" by rapper Mick Jenkins, from 2018 album Pieces of a Man quotes most of the poem in its chorus.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9560637 Gwendolyn Brooks Captures Chicago 'Cool'] Brooks recites "We Real Cool" in interview with Henry Lyman on NPR. Retrieved 2017-02-11