Beans and Rice dedicated to Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks, Consultant in Poetry, 1985-86 Image ID: LC-USZ62-107993
Prints and Photographs Online Catalog

1917-2000

When I took a poetry class last year, we studied one of Gwendolyn Brooks poems: We Real Cool. This was followed by a Meetup when she was the featured Pulitzer Prize winning poet. She was also the first black woman to be named Poet Laureate of the United States. Brooks wrote over 20 books of poetry as well as other works, including  a novel.

For Dead Poets Live I would like to devote the prompt focus on the works of Brooks.

Here is a link to tell you more about Brooks. Gwendolyn Brooks Biography

Following are some of my favorite Brooks poems:

The Bean Eaters

We Real Cool

The Lovers of the Poor

To see what Gwendolyn Brooks wrote in The Bean Eaters, I would suggest going to the link, due to respect of the copyright. Following is my poem with respect to this poem:

Beans and Rice

Dressing the table simply with each day’s dishes.
No need for pompous ways or grandiose wishes.
They rather like the mix of flora and fauna,
cracking adding to the character of their plates.

Living the life of goodness, much of the time.
Each day lived to the best it can be,
No fuss or gussy ways,
Simple appreciating what they have,
Regarding it as such.

As they recall,
Remembering the efforts and gloss of the sweat beaded days.
As they taste the goodness in their humble givings of beans and rice,
They look about their rental home.
doilies, fringes, rick racks and braided toys
a crank engine, hair saver, and celluloid doll
and this is the life of the tin roofed rich.