Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Allen Ginsburg: Walt Whitman’s 20th century reincarnation

Two poems: A Supermarket in California and Homework

  • A Supermarket in California
  • What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.
  •          In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
  •          What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?
  •          I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
  •          I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
  •          I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.
  •          We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.
  •          Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
  •          (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)
  •          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?
  •          Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?
  • Homework
  • Homage Kenneth Koch
  • If I were doing my Laundry I’d wash my dirty Iran
  • I’d throw in my United States, and pour on the Ivory Soap, scrub up Africa, put all the
  • birds and elephants back in the jungle,
  • I’d wash the Amazon river and clean the oily Carib & Gulf of Mexico,   
  • Rub that smog off the North Pole, wipe up all the pipelines in Alaska,   
  • Rub a dub dub for Rocky Flats and Los Alamos, Flush that sparkly Cesium out of Love
  • Canal
  • Rinse down the Acid Rain over the Parthenon & Sphinx, Drain Sludge out of the Mediterranean basin & make it azure again,
  • Put some blueing back into the sky over the Rhine, bleach the little Clouds so snow
  • return white as snow,
  • Cleanse the Hudson Thames & Neckar, Drain the Suds out of Lake Erie   
  • Then I’d throw big Asia in one giant Load & wash out the blood & Agent Orange,
  • Dump the whole mess of Russia and China in the wringer, squeeze out the tattletail Gray
  • of U.S. Central American police state,
  • & put the planet in the drier & let it sit 20 minutes or an Aeon till it came out clean.
Allen Ginsburg

Allen Ginsburg (1926-1997) was an American poet and one of the most influential members of the Beat Poets, a group of countercultural writers working in the 1950s who anticipated – and influenced – the social revolutions of the 1960s. Other famous representatives of this movement include Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. Ginsburg’s verse, epitomized by his most famous poem, “Howl,” is written in a style similar to that of Walt Whitman — in free verse, unrestricted by rhyme, strict meter or stanza forms — and he has often been considered Whitman’s 20th century reincarnation. His poems on the environment, sexual orientation, and political protest remain relevant, especially in the current cultural context.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tuna within 3-day range Back in the Counts

Mind the rockfish regulations
  • A Supermarket in California
  • What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.
  •          In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
  •          What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?
  •          I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
  •          I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
  •          I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.
  •          We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.
  •          Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
  •          (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)
  •          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?
  •          Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?
  • Homework
  • Homage Kenneth Koch
  • If I were doing my Laundry I’d wash my dirty Iran
  • I’d throw in my United States, and pour on the Ivory Soap, scrub up Africa, put all the
  • birds and elephants back in the jungle,
  • I’d wash the Amazon river and clean the oily Carib & Gulf of Mexico,   
  • Rub that smog off the North Pole, wipe up all the pipelines in Alaska,   
  • Rub a dub dub for Rocky Flats and Los Alamos, Flush that sparkly Cesium out of Love
  • Canal
  • Rinse down the Acid Rain over the Parthenon & Sphinx, Drain Sludge out of the Mediterranean basin & make it azure again,
  • Put some blueing back into the sky over the Rhine, bleach the little Clouds so snow
  • return white as snow,
  • Cleanse the Hudson Thames & Neckar, Drain the Suds out of Lake Erie   
  • Then I’d throw big Asia in one giant Load & wash out the blood & Agent Orange,
  • Dump the whole mess of Russia and China in the wringer, squeeze out the tattletail Gray
  • of U.S. Central American police state,
  • & put the planet in the drier & let it sit 20 minutes or an Aeon till it came out clean.
Allen Ginsburg

Allen Ginsburg (1926-1997) was an American poet and one of the most influential members of the Beat Poets, a group of countercultural writers working in the 1950s who anticipated – and influenced – the social revolutions of the 1960s. Other famous representatives of this movement include Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. Ginsburg’s verse, epitomized by his most famous poem, “Howl,” is written in a style similar to that of Walt Whitman — in free verse, unrestricted by rhyme, strict meter or stanza forms — and he has often been considered Whitman’s 20th century reincarnation. His poems on the environment, sexual orientation, and political protest remain relevant, especially in the current cultural context.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?
Next Article

How to make a hit Christmas song

Feeling is key, but money helps too
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader