"A Supermarket in California" Analysis

Allen Ginsberg “A Supermarket in California” is both an ode to Ginsberg’s poetic hero and major influence, Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman was an early influence in Ginsberg poetry. He recounts one night that he had envisioned. He sets the scene by stating he is walking down a street, under trees and a full moon, having “thoughts” of Walt Whitman. The natural world is symbolized by the trees and the moons referred to in this poem. These symbols remind him of Walt Whitman who sought out to find a truer world and identity in nature. This poem has a lot of cultural references if it didn’t it would have just been a simple poem about going to the supermarket. As Allen Ginsberg refers to Walt Whitman a lot in this poem he wanted to show the longing for the true American life that Whitman represented. In this poem Ginsburg refers to him having a “headache” and a “hungry fatigue” and from my understanding it is believed Allen Ginsburg is going through a crisis and him wandering through the “supermarket” gives him solace. Ginsburg hopes the supermarket will be a glimpse of the world Whitman spoke of in his poetry. Ginsberg is looking to history from Walt Whitman to help him answer the economic and social questions that his modern world has become. Ginsberg walks into the supermarket hoping for beauty in the natural products. Ginsberg is surprised on what he finds there when he states “What peaches and what penumbras!” which designates the secret hidden behind nature. In the second stanza Ginsberg begins his imaginative encounter with Whitman. When Ginsberg states “I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys” and this was Ginsberg term for male intercourse and the eyeing the boys was him referring to Whitman alleged liking for boys. In the final stanza of this poem it’s obvious that Ginsberg is following Whitman around. Ginsberg seems not so optimistic when he states “Where are we going the doors close in an hour” this lets Ginsberg know that this vision he is having won’t last. Ginsberg knows there is no place for him and Whitman to go to find Whitman’s vision of natural society and the natural man. Their quests through the “solitary streets” make them realize they will be lonely and Ginsberg refers to it by saying “Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely”. Symbols of a “lost America” such as cars and dark houses will lead them only to loneliness “Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?”