The Voice of Rebels

Good evening, everyone! Today I am going to be discussing a short, yet powerful poem written by a female poet who is new to me: Gwendolyn Brooks! Being of African American heritage myself, I am always excited to discover African American writers, both male and female, who have made a great impact on the world of literature. For example, one of my favorite authors happens to be Alice Walker, author of one of my favorite books, (which inspired the subsequent movie which I also love) The Color Purple. I found it very intriguing that Walker has actually cited Gwendolyn Brooks as an influence. To me, that meant that Brooks must have surely been an astounding talent!

My focus of this post will be Brooks' poem, "We Real Cool."

THE POOL PLAYERS. 

SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We


Jazz June. We

Die soon.

Something that I immediately admired about this poem is its rhythm and its succinct quality. However, at the same time, it is so effective. My initial thought on the poem was that although these pool players will die soon, they seem to be accepting of this. Upon listening to a recording in which Brooks herself discusses the inspiration for the poem, I learned that this is not the focus of the poem. I have included the short video below.

The main point that stood out to me during Brooks' speech preceding the poem is that these young men see themselves as "contemptuous of the establishment." This is the focus of the poem. This view of themselves might also be a product of stereotypes of the time about black people. 

Reading and reflecting upon this poem has inspired me to write my own version of it. My version takes a look at this same sort of mentality of young black men, yet it takes place during the late 80's, and early 90's. When I heard the phrase "contemptuous of the establishment," my first thought was the now disbanded, California hip-hop group, N.W.A. The point of view of this original poem is of the members of N.W.A., specifically following the release of their album, "Straight Outta Compton" and the rage that accompanied the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Having viewed the 2015 biographical film titled Straight Outta Compton just last month, I feel I have a greater understanding of the perspective held by these performers and the community of which they spoke on behalf. 

We Real Bad






We real bad. We

Get mad. We



Break rules. We

Ain’t fools. We



Preach facts. We

Pile stacks. We



Live the song. We

Die strong.



In writing my poem, I have altered the vernacular in order to the fit the speech of rappers of the time. To offer a brief synopsis, when the speakers say that they are "bad," they mean that they are "cool." When they "get mad," they are becoming angered that they are being subjected to unprovoked discrimination and violence merely for their skin color. The facts that they preach are the stories that they tell through their songs which detail this oppression. When they say that they "pile stacks," they are merely commenting on the money that they make from the records that they sell. The money is not their only concern, however. The rappers "live the song," meaning that they have experienced the very same injustice that they rap about. They want to make a change. Finally, the line "we die strong" is in reference to the death of former N.W.A. member, Eazy-E. Although his life may have ended early, he held firm in his beliefs and helped leave a legacy of not only music, but of important social commentary.







My question for you today is simply, what do you believe to be the meaning of Brooks' "We Real Cool"?

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!