Voice Thread Script
This poem is called “We Real Cool” and it was written by Gwendolyn Brooks. Paying attention
solely to the title, one of the first things that you notice is the colloquialism. The way in which
Brooks chose not to use proper grammar in the title and throughout the poem gives the audience
insight as to who the speaker of the poem may be. Based on the slang of the title, readers can
recognize that the speaker may be someone young or who speaks more of a Southern dialect. As
the poem continues, Brooks sets it up almost like a play. The capitalized statement “THE POOL
PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL” makes it seem as though Brooks is
describing a scene to her audience. First, the statement makes it obvious that the speaker is
someone who is part of a group of people playing people. Next, “SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN
SHOVEL.” The reader is eventually able to figure out that SEVEN means there are seven
people, probably young men, who are playing pool at a pool hall called the GOLDEN SHOVEL.
However, the phrase GOLDEN SHOVEL allows the audience to learn even more about the
speaker or speakers of the poem. First of all, GOLDEN is a word that is often used to describe
youth, which serves as even further evidence that the speaker is young, probably a teenager.
Next, SHOVEL denotes digging, such as digging oneself into trouble. So just based on the first
two lines of the poem, we can identify our speaker as part of a group of seven teenage boys,
playing pool at a hall called “The Golden Shovel.”
As the poem continues, most of the phrases are relatively straightforward. “We real cool.” Cool
means nonchalant, calm, collected, and somewhat mysterious, so the speaker describes himself
and his friends in this way. Next, “we left school.” This means that the boys most likely have
dropped out of school. Then comes the line “We lurk late.” Upon hearing this, the audience
imagines a group of young boys loitering throughout the evening, a sight that might seem almost
intimidating to passerby. “Lurk” denotes more than just hanging around. It adds even more of a
mysterious air to the speaker and makes him seem more sneaky and sly. “We strike straight” tells
more about the boys spending their time in the pool. “Strike straight” probably means that they
have spent a great deal of time playing pool and are now skilled players who can hit the ball
straight into the pocket with ease. However, there is also speculation that it could mean that the
boys commit crimes, but do so without leaving any evidence that could help catch. In context
with the poem, either could make sense. “We sing sin” gives the audience more insight into the
boys’ characters. They seem to be troublemakers of some sort. The word “sing” though tells us
something else about them. They praise the fact that they are rebels and have no real authority
figure over them. “Sing” implies that they are not ashamed or disgraced by their wrongs and
misbehavior, but that they think it adds to their coolness. It serves as more evidence of the
nonchalant attitude that they have adopted from spending their time in the streets. “We thin gin”
is simple: the boys drink alcohol, something else which they are probably not supposed to be
doing. “Thin” suggests that they water the drinks down, most likely an effort to help them make
more money. As the audience learns more about the activities which the speaker and his
companions enjoy, it becomes easier to classify them as rebels and even somewhat
nonconformists. “We Jazz June” can have two meanings. The first is that the boys sleep around,
which ultimately fits in with their rebellious attitudes. “June” could be referring to a female
name, in which case “jazz” would have a sort of sexual connotation. However, the other theory is
that “jazz” is actually a reference to music, as would be expected, and that June represents
authority or the establishment. In other words, it suggests that the boys would rather listen to
music than authority, that they do not necessarily care about the authority that society has over
them. The final line of the poem is where the tone completely shifts. “We die soon.” It becomes
evident now that the speaker and his friends spend a lot of time in the streets. What is most
surprising about the shift is that, despite seeming relaxed and at ease throughout the poem, the
speaker shows that he actually feels vulnerability and that he realizes that his actions will
ultimately lead to his death. “We die soon” refers back to the SHOVEL at the beginning of the
poem. After hearing the end, the audience recognizes that SHOVEL may also symbolize gravedigging and death. Literary critics theorize that this poem is describing the lives of young Black
males living in the 1950s and 1960s. Brooks is alluding to the oppression that these boys had to
face and their struggle to identify with society. What leads us to this conclusion is the rhythm of
the poem. Notice how each line ends with we (UNDERLINE). In an interview in 1970, Brooks
said that this was because she wanted it to seem as the speaker was stopping to question his
“validity” and she wanted to “represent their basic uncertainty.” Ultimately, the unique
rhythmical pattern fulfills its purpose: Brooks presents a group of young boys who feel insecure
in society and have given up in the battle against the labels that have been placed on them.