A Supermarket In California Comments

A vivid depiction of the many intricacies of life. Great imagery.

Congratulations being chosen as The Modern Poem Of The Day!

I cite Google: The first state to allow same- marriage was Massachusetts, which granted the right in 2004.Now more States in the US allows homosexual marriages. In Ginsberg time it was prohibited

2) A very thought-provoking poem, but easiest guessed IF you know the names mentioned here are all homosexual persons. A saddest Song told here 5 Stars full on Top!

Not just A Supermarket in California, but in this poem, in the lines and words hide tragedy and loneliness amongst the mentioned names, and also in the poet's mind, but outed as a protest dialogue in the Supermarket.

Still one of my favorite poems whenever I go 'shopping for images'-which is often. Ginsberg and Whitman were alike in some ways.

I like Whitman too. He was the first great American poet and opened the door for all poets, good and bad alike. I’ll have to read more Ginsberg to make a better comment. He looks a little like Gerald Stern. He was a great American poet.

What an extraordinary piece of free verse this is, except possibly for the stylized ending. The phrase 'shopping for images' lingers.

Outstanding work in depicting the life style and bury of strength. Great

Hows it going danny good in this but you did better in Its always sunny in Philadelphia

Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be lonely. ..great imaginary. Beautiful poem.

A totally brilliant, contemporary poem, written by a free spirit: Allen Ginsberg. It is startling to have a dialogue with Walt Whitman, who was very like Ginsberg in many ways. I read the title and I think, 'which supermarket out of the thousands in California? ' I love the wit, 'shopping for images', 'wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes'. prose tomatoes'. I like the repetition of 'Will we walk' and the fact of asking so many rhetorical questions. Bordering on prose that only makes the poem better.

Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, ......................... Which way does your beard point tonight? ..................................................What America did you dream exactly to have?

Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be lonely. Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage? Nice work.....

My imagination! ! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

.....excellent imagery, a nice write ★

Really a cry of dust and ruins from the soul of a town. Ginsberg is amarvellous poet.

James: Interesting observation. I have not read Garcia Lorca's bio, but had read about his interest in Harlem and the experience of blacks in America and interpreted the reference to Garcia Lorca as a humorous reference from one transgressive poet (Ginsberg thinks that store security is following him) to another.

I too was confused by the meaning of the poem. I was thinking it was just a funny, kind of silly remembrance of Whitman, fooling around a bit with simple grocery store items. Then I read the bio of Frederico Garcia Lorca (a man mentioned in the poem) and an entirely new meaning became blindingly obvious. Lorca, was really devastated about failed homosexual relationships. His two major love interests, one interestingly enough was Salvador Dali, went on to have marriages with women. This is a poem, asking the question of, What does America hold for me the homosexual? The answer is a sad: 'we'll both be lonely.' I won't quote continued lines from the poem, but if you want to feel seem empathy for Ginsberg, Wikipedia Lorca and then reread the poem and focus and the words that are addressing a sense of disenfranchisement from the empty promises America was making, viewed in the context of post World War II feelings that were surfacing and no doubt helping to form the Beat Generation.

somewhere west of Mandalay, ginsberg is the wilderness inside yellow rapeseed flowers, a cry of dust from the soul town