We Real Cool

Gwendolyn Brooks 1960

Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool” first appeared in Poetry magazine in September of 1958 and was later published in her fourth volume of poetry, The Bean Eaters (1960). This short, poignant poem is perhaps Brooks’s most famous and is characterized by its use of vernacular and the way its short, staccato lines and internal rhyming pattern quickly carry the work to a crisp, startling ending. The locale of “We Real Cool” is a pool hall called The Golden Shovel. The poem’s action is recounted by the collective voice of seven pool players who, although their race is unspecified, are generally thought to be black because of their language and because the poet, herself, is African American. While “We Real Cool” could be read as a boast, the distinctive way that Brooks breaks the lines transforms egotistical display into momentary candor as the players realize the struggle of being outsiders or misfits. Neither moralizing nor maudlin, the pool players reflect on their situation but give no indication that they will change their behavior in any way. In this way, the poem is realistic and avoids a quick and easy fix. “We Real Cool” ends on an unsettling note, as the players’ predict their own fate.