We Real Cool

I ended our Perez residency with Ms. Murrays 4th graders by bringing in We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks. Students wrote some amazing poems, and we closed out by sharing what we took away from our time together this year. For me, it was such an affirmation of the power of poetry and creativity to watch these 4th graders grow into such incredible poets over the course of 5 months. And it was also a testament to the power of CPC’s work across Chicago. Thank you Ms. Murray, and to each of your students for making this one of the most incredible classroom experiences I’ve had in my career as a poet and teaching artist. I hope we get to do it again next year! Have a great summer!

Cool 

Hector Yanez

We are all cool

In different ways

We are all cool 

I would say 

Though nobody is perfect

We are all cool 

I would say 

In our own different ways. 

We Real Cool

Mateo 

We real cool. We

play at school, We

like the light. We

love fortnite. We

Hate a mock ev. We

adore soccer. We

are chill. We

make a spill. 

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TESTIMONIALS

“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.

“Writing poetry makes me feel free.”
-Buenda D.

“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
-Jessica M.