Saturday Class: Gwendolyn Brooks and “We Real Cool”
Sandra asks, What does she mean when she say we left school?
She talking ’bout cutting class or dropped out?
I say, What do y’all think?
Summer says, This makes me think of growing up in Lawndale.
We be playing and having a good time in the summer.
I knew everybody. But when school started
Again, there was always somebody missing.
Some of them changed grades,
Some of them started running the streets,
And some got killed.
Sometimes, left just means
left.
Source: Poetry (May 2026)