June 4, 2008

We real cool

I haven't read or thought about this poem by Gwendolyn Brooks since high school but for reasons unexplained it has been running through my head all day:

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.

-Gwendolyn Brooks

posted at 06:21 AM by raul

Filed under: noted

TAGS: jazz (1) june (1) poetry (6) pool players (1)

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Comments:

06/04/08 05:06 PM

Kay said...

That poem always reminds me of a Curtis Mayfield song - or the song reminds me of the poem - Here but I'm Gone - very deep lyrics to that song.

06/05/08 11:10 AM

Milena said...

Had never heard of it but it's great. Now the rhythm will stay in my head too.

06/08/08 09:19 PM

Mansour said...

This was one of the first modern poems I read in college, which both made me want to be a writer and made me realize how ridiculous the idea was ever to think it feasible to be a professional poet (I was 18).

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