When I Read: We Real Cool

A while back I mentioned that I actually read when I was little. Mother's an English teacher so I had no real choice. And while I prized books- especially series about babysitters in Connecticut- I also loved a good poem. Unsurprisingly, most poems I read, memorized and spoke out loud dealt with the African American experience.

Well one Christmas, like any teachers child, I opened up my wrapped books to find a thin paperback copy of black poems. I excitedly read it, and then my sister and I did our first Last Poets-esque piece around the Christmas tree. I don't think the recording ever worked, but I'll always always love this piece.

This You Tube piece also had Digable Planets "Rebirth of Slick (Cool like that)" as the background piece...and I mentioned my admiration of them in this OSF piece.

Happy Wednesday!!!

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
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.