Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion
Poetry
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We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
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This is not one of my favorites because I could not grasp its meaning when I first read it years ago. Perhaps these were some of the things gathered from conversations with these young men who should've been in school. Does this poem surmise what Ms. Brooks understood what they thought was cool? What does "We strike straight" and "We Jazz June" mean? Is Ms. Brooks telling us they are in fact not real cool after all?
Queen, you are not the only one... I could never grasp this poems meaning. I think this is when the post modernist, know the situation surrounding the poem comes into effect. I'm assuming that this poem is illustrating how these black boys are living for the moment in this pool bar, and brooks might be extending the image to african american culture in our present day and time? i'm totally guessin' here, tell me if you fee otherwise. One of the reasons I do like it thought is the way Brooks read it and it reminds me of a jazz record. the sounds really reverberate, and the words want to be remember...
Since the poem was written in 1960, we probably wouldn't be familiar with the street slang at the time, but the feel of it is still familiar. Here's what Brooks said about it on the PBS NewsHour:I wrote it because I was passing by a pool hall in my neighborhood in Chicago one afternoon, and I saw... well, as I said in the poem, seven boys shooting pool. And I wondered how they felt about themselves, and I decided that they felt they were not quite valid, that they certainly were insecure, they were not cherished by the society, and therefore they would feel that they should, well, spit in the face of the establishment. I used the month of June as a symbol, an establishment symbol. Whereas the rest of us love and respect June, and wait for it to come so we can enjoy it, they would jazz June, derange it, scratch in it; do anything that would annoy the establishment.
It's at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/poems/...
wow! thank you, Wilhelmina! that really opened up the poem.. it really make me value it much more.... the dilemna now is; should we still devalue the poem for what we see, or let this interview inform the work?personally, i love reading why people write what they write and find it to add another dimension to the works!
Hey, I'm just realizing that this thread is here! I love Gwendolyn Brooks, she is one of my favorite poets, very dear to my heart. I actually thought about putting up her poem "The Mother" for our first discussion but thought that would scare folks away - ha ha.I've always enjoyed "We Real Cool" - it makes a great companion to Wright's Native Son. I would argue that she's making a particular statement about these young men at the Golden Shovel and those like them whose swagger and rebelliousness are really a front. They hang out at a pool hall (instead of school), they stay out late and "sing sin." And any power that they may have found in numbers - the repetition of the "we" - is lost in that last stark line: "die soon."
I don't know if the PBS interview mentions this, but I once heard Brooks say that the "we" is placed at the end of the line to be said very softly so as to reinforce the insecurity of the pool players. So it would really read like:
LURK LATE. we
STRIKE STRAIGHT. we
Love that!
To speak to Mozart's question - I don't think it's necessary for us to know the details from the interview to really "get" the poem. But given its time period, I would argue that we have a responsibility? or obligation, maybe? to learn about the context of certain period-specific words. So if we're reading Shakespeare and he uses an Old English term that is unfamiliar to us, we look it up and then evaluate from there. Same goes for "strike straight" or "jazz june" in my opinion.
Yes, thanx Wilhelmina. Now have an understanding of the poem. I agree with you Mozart, the way it is read is real jazzy (reminds of The Last Poets). Sometimes hearing a poem gives a different feel to it. Mozart, we should not devalue the poem but rather embrace that it reflects an era (the 60's) where young black men did not feel accepted by society. Besides, who is better to explain the meaning of the poem but the poet herself?
I also think that it's important to look at time periods and cultural context, if for no other reason than to avoid errors in interpretation. A simplistic example is the word "gay" - "Our hearts were young and gay" is a little different now. I saw Gwendolyn Brooks reading her poetry in 1994 and she was wonderful. The significance of the end-of-line "we" makes me hear this poem differently and enjoy it even more.
well put Wilhelmina about time periods and cultural context to avoid misinterpretation. i totally agree.
just found this! great poem... wow. i read the poem first, then the thread, then the poem again. the first time around i thought, "i'm hopeless; i don't understand anything." the second time, i. loved. the. poem so much that the last line caused a physical sensation of hurt in my heart. lovely thread. thank you mozart, thank you everyone. i love that we have this concurrent poetry discussion!
Mod
LOL @ gasoline drawers!!! Thank you, Bill, for making me smile today. What an image! Did you "understand" the poem's meanings when she read it to you?
Funny, Bill! I can just picture this. And my guess is that you understood her point perfectly well and kept doing exactly what she was warning you about!
Mod
Mod
I had to go and pull out my copy of Bell Hooks "We Real Cool: Black Men & Masculinity" to find out if the title came from Brooks poem. Strangely there's no mention of it on the back of the book and there's no index so I'll have to look through the book. Just gives me an excuse to re-read Bell Hooks (as if that's a problem).
bell hooks is a great writer. i have a few books of hers but not the one you mentioned Columbus. do you agree with ms. hooks view about black men and masculinity?
Mod
this book.
wow. i had to come back to this thread. somebody was talking about my girl BELL HOOKs(i know she likes lower case, but so what?!)... columbus have you read any other feminist writing on masculinity? really interested in this topic. esp. for men of color... one of the things that i could relate to the most w. hooks is that she comes from a place of compassion and not that feminism is that end all be all of gender theory, but there is room for growth and discussion, especially when it relates to the two genders communicating effectively!word!
Mod
Ummm... mainly, bell hooks other book on masculinity, the will to change, is really good. also, if you google Kevin Powell he has a series of essays http://www.amazon.com/Black-Male-Hand...i have read the first book, and i heard kevin powelll speak a couple years back, his philosophy is pretty dynamic!
Back to the Brooks poem, I actually had to teach it for the first time this past summer, which is of course the best way to learn about it...so many layers and interpretations, but I really like the ironic reference to the golden shovel, gold representing something of value in a pool hall? and the connotation of death and burial in the shovel. As far as the historical context of the 60s, black men of course had the highest number of casualties in the Vietnam War, so if they weren't in school they were most likely going to get drafted and die young.
here is an audio version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWxFiF... the graphics are kind of creepy, but that is brook's reading her classic 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.