In “We Real Cool,” Brooks uses a variety of innovative and unusual literary devices in order to convey the sense of camaraderie that defines the narrative voice. Written with an internal rhyme structure and made up of irregularly written formal couplets, the poem switches from a detached speaker, who conveys the poem’s first two lines, to the group perspective of the pool players, whose voice conveys the majority of the poem. The poem’s final statement—“We / Die soon”—can be read as a return to the initial detached speaker, although the phrase is ambiguous.

The poem’s subtitle forms a couplet, two complete sentences which together constitute a stanza. These lines are devoid of personal voice, and they quickly set the scene and inform the reader who “We” is referring to in the rest of the poem. These lines are factual and visual, refraining from providing any unnecessary information and suggesting that the “Pool Players” frequently visit “the Golden Shovel.” By avoiding individuality and grouping the players together, Brooks conveys the sense that she is describing the group as a collective and offering a kind of snapshot of their lives.

Brooks rejects a judgmental stance, instead conveying what the group of boys might feel. In doing so, she subverts the traditional lyric form, which typically conveys a singular voice and experience. Instead, the repeated use of “We” as the poem’s subject groups the pool players together as a single, united entity. 

“We Real Cool” is seen as a foremost example of “jazz poetry,” employing rhythmic structures reminiscent of jazz music. The clearest example of this is in Brooks’s use of enjambment, wherein sentences start on one line and end on another. Every line except the last ends in “We,” which always forms the beginning of the next phrase. Brooks herself claimed that she imagined the “We” to be said softly, suggesting a sense of hiding. Each “We” anticipates the next phrase, the next move that the group makes. Brooks’s specific use of enjambment was developed as a poetic form by Terrance Hayes, who coined it as the “Golden Shovel” method in homage to this poem. The poem’s enjambment gives the lines a sense of forward propulsion: The reader, having reached the “We” at the end of a line, rushes onward to discover the group’s subsequent action. The quick, dizzying pace of Brooks’s lines effectively mimic the reckless, youthful pace of the pool players’ lives.

In addition to enjambment, Brooks uses a careful rhyming scheme, along with assonance and alliteration. For example, the third stanza rhymes “sin” and “gin,” each word ending a complete sentence but not the individual line. Alliteration, wherein similar sounds are used for the first syllables of nearby words, can be seen throughout the poem, for example in the phrase “Sing sin.” This not only enriches the internal rhyme structure but also varies the poem’s rhythmic pattern. The phrase “Sing sin” is interesting because it can be difficult to distinguish between the two words, allowing them to run into one another. In contrast, “Strike straight” and “Lurk late,” which also employ alliteration, use harsher k sounds in order to break up syllables and connote harshness.

Due to the poem’s brevity, Brooks does not develop any obvious similes or metaphors, but manages to pack a great deal of symbolism into the text. The proper noun “Golden Shovel” presumably refers to the pool hall in which the group are playing and immediately suggests that the speaker is familiar with the setting. In mentioning the name so nonchalantly, Brooks conveys a feeling of coming across the scene of pool players, watching them...