Gwendolyn Brooks

SADIE AND MAUD

Maud went to college.
Sadie stayed home.
Sadie scraped life
With a fine toothed comb.

She didn't leave a tangle in
Her comb found every strand.
Sadie was one of the livingest chicks
In all the land.

Sadie bore two babies
Under her maiden name.
Maud and Ma and Papa
Nearly died of shame.

When Sadie said her last so-long
Her girls struck out from home.
(Sadie left as heritage
Her fine-toothed comb.)

Maud, who went to college,
Is a thin brown mouse.
She is living all alone
In this old house.


Gwendolyn Brooks was an African American poet and a member of the Black Arts Movement. Much of her poetry deals with civil rights issues and involves politically charged energy and intensity characteristic of this particular era. In this poem, entitled "Sadie and Maud," we see the spontaneous, life-living woman contrasted with her sister (presumably), the live-by-the-books woman who ends up "living all alone/In this old house." This could be inferred to represent the various sides of society--Sadie as the modern, independent, and possibly somewhat rebellious end of society as compared to the traditional, more easily scandalized end. Brooks clearly condoned the independence and motivation of the Sadies of society, and likely considered herself one--particularly in regard to civil rights issues.