We Real Cool
"We Real Cool" is a brief poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, an American poet renowned for her depictions of Black urban life, first published in her 1960 collection The Bean Eaters.[1][2] The work portrays seven young pool players at a place called the Golden Shovel who boast of skipping school, lurking late, striking straight in pool, singing sin, thinning gin, jazzing up June, and rising ragged, only to end abruptly with "We / Die soon."[1][2] The poem's structure emphasizes its themes through terse, enjambed lines that mimic the clipped rhythm of jazz or the click of pool balls, with each stanza featuring short phrases ending in "We" except the final couplet.[3] This form, paired with vernacular phrasing like "real cool," captures the defiant bravado of youth rejecting societal norms, yet Brooks intended it as a cautionary reflection on the self-destructive path of truancy and vice among inner-city Black teenagers.[4] Its publication marked a pivotal moment in Brooks's career, following her 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen, and it has since become one of her most anthologized and taught works, highlighting the allure and peril of "coolness" in marginalized communities.[5][1] While interpretations often focus on its social commentary—evoking the consequences of educational disengagement and premature mortality in urban settings—the poem avoids didacticism, relying instead on stark juxtaposition to convey causal outcomes of rebellious choices.[4] Brooks, who drew inspiration from observing similar youths, later clarified that the players' lives were "thin" and unsustainable, underscoring a realist view of how such lifestyles lead inexorably to early death rather than glorifying them.[4] Its enduring impact lies in this unflinching portrayal, influencing discussions on youth culture and poetry's role in documenting societal undercurrents without romanticization.[5]Background and Publication
Origin and Inspiration
![Young African-American men playing pool in a hall][float-right] Gwendolyn Brooks composed "We Real Cool" in the late 1950s, drawing direct inspiration from her observations of seven young African American school dropouts playing pool in a hall near her home on Chicago's South Side.[6][7] This encounter in the Bronzeville neighborhood, where Brooks resided and frequently documented urban Black life, shaped the poem's subtitle, "The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel," with the "Golden Shovel" evoking the specific venue she witnessed.[8] In interviews, Brooks described these youths as embodying a raw, unpretentious existence devoid of glamour, highlighting their choice to prioritize street life over education.[7] The poem emerged during a period when Brooks was transitioning toward more innovative poetic structures, yet remained anchored in her commitment to portraying the realities of marginalized Black youth in urban settings.[4] First appearing in her 1960 collection The Bean Eaters, it reflected firsthand encounters with the socioeconomic pressures of Bronzeville, including truancy and idleness that foreshadowed premature mortality. Brooks articulated her intent to expose the seductive yet fatal appeal of their self-proclaimed "coolness," which she viewed as a veneer over inevitable downfall, based on patterns she observed in her community.[6][7]Publication Details
"We Real Cool" first appeared in print in the September 1959 issue of Poetry magazine.[9][10] It was subsequently included in Gwendolyn Brooks' third poetry collection, The Bean Eaters, published by Harper & Brothers in 1960.[11][12] This volume followed her earlier works, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Annie Allen (1949), which contributed to her established reputation by the time of The Bean Eaters' release. The poem has been reprinted in various subsequent anthologies and selections of Brooks' poetry, reflecting its enduring presence in literary compilations.[1] Specific editions of The Bean Eaters were issued by Harper & Row in later printings, maintaining the original 1960 copyright.[13]Text and Poetic Form
Full Text
The full text of "We Real Cool," first published in the September 1959 issue of Poetry magazine, is presented below with its epigraph and characteristic line breaks intact.[2]The Pool Players,The epigraph functions as a subtitle, establishing the setting among seven young pool players at a venue called "The Golden Shovel."[2] The poem itself comprises 16 brief lines in eight enjambed couplets, each concluding with the pronoun "We" to enforce repetition and syncopation via line breaks.[2][14] The phrasing "We real cool" elides the standard verb "are," incorporating elements of African American Vernacular English to approximate the characters' spoken idiom.[2][15][16]
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.[2][1]