The poems of the Black Arts Movement seem to be a stark contrast from last week’s confessional poetry. More specific and based on personal experiences during a certain time period, I found these poems to be more grounded or “concrete”. I decided to do a close reading of one of Gwendolyn Brooks poems, choosing “We Real Cool” because of its mystery and the way it seems to be both describing and warning readers about the consequences of choices as well as cultural inequality.
The poem is short, but starts with a preface, describing in italics “The Pool Players / Seven at the Golden Shovel”. I liked that Brooks set the scene for such a short poem and in just a few words described 7 people playing pool in a bar which we can immediately imagine. The following lines are presumed to be the thoughts of the players, most likely a group of young men who play pool here often. It can be argued that the poem is the perspective of one of the men, but I took it as the “We” being a shared mentality and viewpoint that all 7 of them share.
The poem is 4 stanzas, organized into couplets with each line only having 3 words. The last word of each line is “We”, and although this repetition isn’t a rhyme, it does lend for a consistent rhythm while also underlining the overall idea of a collective “We” that is explored through the shared experiences and characteristics of the pool players. These players say “We real cool. We / Left School”, creating a play on words where the speakers are bragging they dropped out of school, but it is evident in the improper use of the plural “We”. This also contributes to a cultural stereotype where it’s assumed people who dropout of school are not successful and get themselves into trouble, which is what the pool players end up fulfilling. The poem then says the group “Lurk Late. We / Strike Straight”, creating an image of staying out at all hours and doing something as unsavory as “lurking”, which has a negative connotation. “Strike straight” seems to be referring to pool, where they are good at the game and aim straight to win. But strike also has a negative connotation and can elicit images of striking and fighting other people. This is further supported by the next lines “Sing Sin”, and the players are further characterized as celebrating their bad behavior and enjoying being known for being troublemakers, which can be even worsened with alcohol, or “Thin gin”. I am unsure what “Jazz June” means, and I did some research on the poem and found that the meaning is unclear. That does add to the overall air of mystery, though. Curious to hear what others think this could be referring to.
The most striking phrase is the last line, which is only two words instead of 3, the last “We” leading to “Die Soon.” This is powerful because it is showing how the actions of this group, though technically individual, are leading up to a certain, predicted death. Also interesting to note is the name of the pool hall from the intro. “The Golden Shovel” also seems to be a play on this expectation of an early demise and is built into the beginning to suggest a predetermined event.
I liked this poem because it packed a lot of punch into a few short lines. The descriptions of this imagined group of pool players lends a critical eye into typical stereotypes of race in America, specifically students of color who were under so much scrutiny and prejudice during Brooks time of writing. The use of improper English in the first stanza speaks to a lack of education, and the players dropping out of school and then ultimately dying create a picture of a typical route that unfortunately became a reality in many cases, due to inequalities in both the education system and overall opportunities for advancement.
Grace, I enjoyed your close reading and the questions you asked. “What does Jazz June mean?” I asked myself the same thing — Here’s what I came up with- June is a perfect month for strolling the streets of New York at night: The air pulsates with energy and hope which is actually a nice contraposition to the dark closed pool room and the interiority of the monologue.
As far as the golden shovel goes- for me, and I’d be willing to argue this idea- it contraposies the Golden Bough which symbolizes light and life and – is also dense with meaning- check out Frazer’s The Golden Bough– I believe the shovel suggests there are no origin myths of these boys or the collective “we” represented except for a history of genocide… This is just my interpretation– I would not quote me on this… But I would love to know what you think/
Thanks for sharing your reading of this poem. I’m often struck but the rhythm the poem takes on with the consistent break on “we”–it forces a sort of beat or rhythm that feels like jazz syncopation. And I think “jazz june” is brilliant as it turns “jazz” into a verb–as a sort of way of being in relation to the early summer months. To “jazz june” is to improvise your approach to time–to find new beats and rhythms. Of course, the irony of this poem is that this freedom is illusory–just a golden shovel where gold suggests opportunity and shovel suggests digging one’s own grave. There’s something striking about how the verb phrases–we / verb–are consistently split. There’s a distance or a dissonance there the comments on the ability of these subject to truly act, to truly be free.