We Real Cool

TATE

TATE

AzB Gold Mensch
Silver Member
I ran across this poem on pool, written in 1959 in a collection of poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks who was 43 at the time she wrote this. She was from Chicago and is a renowned poet. There is some interesting insight here and the poem struck me as short but powerful.

Some of the phrases I am not familiar with - any help?




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.
 
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I actually remember that poem. It was very popular with us low-class, pool-playing, high-school bums at the time. "We real cool," was the kids' favorite saying, and if you could come up with an appropriate second line, it was considered very cool indeed.
 
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TATE said:
I ran across this poem on pool, written in 1959 in a collection of poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks who was 43 at the time she wrote this. She was from Chicago and is a renowned poet. There is some interesting insight here and the poem struck me as short but powerful.

Some of the phrases I am not familiar with - any help?




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.
Click to expand...

"Strike straight" this is what you should be doing when you shoot, with a little more practice you can achieve this. LOL. Wayne
 
Was "we Thin gin" to do with mixing or was it simply thinning out the gin bottle by drinking it?

Best,
Brian kc
 
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