Real Cool - The Chicago Poetry Center

Real Cool

This week Lawndale’s 6th grade workshop was all about rhythm. After a lively game of “The Clap Heard Around The World” they read Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” and used her work as inspiration for their own “We” poems, with their own grooves. We talked about what it means to be a 6th grader, how our actions impact our lives, and how they spend their time. Meanwhile, 8th grade continued to work on poems exploring identity and what it’s like to be in the world.

Ms. Barker 6th Grade

Our Lives by Rahsaan M.

We real cool. We
ate some food. We
make some money. We
think we’re funny. We
Play too much. We
ate too much. We
date too much. We
die too much.

We A Community by Noel C.

we act slow we go
low we be messy
we be mean we talk
slow we be cool we are
the best we are a community
we can be better
we can be more we
can be who we want
to be

Generation by Jeffery P.

We are not freaks and geeks
I see them every time I go to sleep
We are not gen z
I want everybody to be free

Ms. Barker 8th Grade

Believe by Asia M.

I was born in the Chi where
you wake up to gun
shots and next thing you
know one of yours popped
I lie to save your lie
hope I don’t get no bad
reply I believe in 2nd
chances I let the lie
fly by

Black Timing by Demarkus J.

Dear Blackness,
you are something I am
everyday something I can’t change when
I wake up and look in the mirror you’re
the first thing I see you make me
different when I walk into a room full
of different colored people I feel great
any time of the day any year any month
I am black and I’m proud