"A Supermarket in California"

This poem by Allen Ginsberg had definite differences to the last poem we read by him, called “Howl,” both in length and in delivery. Though different in many aspects, this poem did not read in happy tones, just as “Howl” did not. The poem gave off a very negative connotation surrounding around a couple of men, Walt Whitman and Garcia Lorca. After doing a little bit of research, I learned they were both homosexual poets just like Ginsberg so I saw more meaning to the poem. After researching I found meaning in the lines stating, “I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.” This line points out the homosexuality of Walt Whitman and it’s odd that after the narrator points out the other “normal” families, he can just as easily find Walt Whitman portraying homosexual actions. I have to be honest, I didn’t enjoy this poem at all because I didn’t immediately pick up on the homosexuality and after I learned that I found it even more weird. This poem just adds to my dislike of Allen Ginsberg; I don’t find comfort, joy, or pleasure when reading his poetry and I find myself more disgusted after reading it. I feel as thought that is his pure intention though, to disgust and make his readers feel uncomfortable. As for vocab in this reading, I didn’t think it was a difficult piece to understand at a pure basic level and didn’t see the need to look up definitions. As basic as the wording of the poetry was however, it was definitely a difficult one for me to find a deeper meaning or any meaning at all!