Not So Cool Clique

"We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks -CRITICAL

After reading this poem several times I felt the need to look in the back of the book at the biographical notes on the author and it did not surprise me in the least. Gwendolyn was an African-American who lived the "ghetto life".
When first reading this poem I interpreted it to mean pure rebel behavior. The confidence and swagger that only the "cool" kids possess. From reading the poem you see the lifestyle that she and her crowd was leading, dropping out of school, out all night,screaming profanities, drinking, basically living like there would be no consequences.
Theres a real sense of irony in this poem, she refers to her and her friends as "cool" but in actual fact she is telling us how "uncool" they really were. Referencing the "golden shovel" and at the end of the poem saying "die soon" basically explaining that no good has or will come of that lifestyle, what she felt was cool at the time brings on a darker more unfufilling future.
The style of the poem is short. and jagged, almost like she was speaking and writing this drunk. There is pauses in sentences that show hesitation and though process, which is delayed when you are intoxicated. She also starts off the poem saying how cool her and her friends were and ends saying die soon, I see her being intoxicated and saying this and almost hearing how foolish she sounds, the idea of her and her clique changed very quickly, she's embaressed.

The form in the poem "landscape:1" is quite similiar in the fact that there is no complete sentences, there is no flow to the poem, smooth being the complete opposite and both being very awkward in appearance as well as style. But with that being said they are both very appealing for those very reasons as well, being both haiku poems, they are very appealing to the eye as well as for interpretation. Both being very short and also holding such powerful messages.