We Real Cool

Poet Gwendolyn Brooks

In 1959, Gwendolyn Brooks illustrated the ultimate fate of troubled teenagers with irresponsible behaviors and destructive thinking: DEATH. This poem speaks volumes, and has as much validity today as it did when it was composed, if not more. I have seen it everyday, every year for the last 15 years of my career in public education. Students who follow the crowd against their better judgement. Children who ditch class. Parents who run the streets. Mothers who attend their FIRST parent conference in MAY to curse every teacher for failing their child. Fathers reeking of liquor while dropping their kids off to school hours late. Teenagers screwing in the hidden corners of stairwells and behind bushes on the way home from school. Lunchroom fights and neighborhood brawls in the middle of the street at dismissal time. Yep, REAL cool.

To our young people, to the older people still trying to act young, to anybody not yet strong enough to break away from the WE mentality and be their own individual. Take heed of the plight of the seven pool players. Too bad they weren't cool enough to play for long.

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.

Thank You, Ms. Brooks. YOU were Cool.