A Supermarket in California by Allen Ginsberg
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- Опубліковано 11 сер 2021
- “A Supermarket in California” by Allen Ginsberg
In which I celebrate Poetry Thursday again, this time by considering"A Supermarket in California."
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My previous poetry discussions: • Poetry
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A lovely poem. Thanks for sharing, Hannah. 🙂
Definitely a favorite in my household!
Thank you for sharing this! I always imagine Ginsburg as a wandering homeless person in this poem and I imagine him being joined by a homeless version of Walt Whitman.
"What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!"
I read that line as a kind of comical appropriation or parody of Walt Whitman's over-the-top exclamatory and exuberant voice. For example, from "Song of Myself":
"Night of south winds-night of the large few stars!
Still nodding night-mad naked summer night.
Smile O voluptuous cool-breath'd earth!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!"
For me, this poem captures the universal experience of finding solace and companionship in poetry and also foregrounds the biographical and stylistic parallels that connect Allen Ginsburg to the voice and character of Walt Whitman but also explores the pain of trying to see through/across that chasm of time and that chasm of history that make's Whitman's voice sound remote to us and ultimately separates these two artists and these two Americas.
Oh yes! My son (who also loves this poem) definitely sees at least Whitman as a homeless person who sparks Ginsberg's deep thoughts. You are totally right about the exclamations of Whitman's writing being borrowed for the peaches and penumbras line. Thank you so much for your comment. Actually--I was thinking about you just yesterday. I am currently reading a heavily-annotated edition of Mrs. Dalloway--absolutely wonderful but also very Talmudic in the reading experience. I was thinking you might have an easier time with it than I am having...
@@HannahsBooks oooh I've been dipping in and out of "the waves" recently and I always love hearing your thoughts on Virginia Woolf!
really liked your analysis of the poem
Thank you!
Oh, you do such lovely justice to this Ginsberg gem. Truly beautiful job on this. Thank you for this.
Thank you so much! What a lovely comment!
I really enjoyed hearing you read “A Super Market in California”. You have a unique voice and style. I hope you’re doing well.
Thank you so much for this very kind note!
❤️
Thank you, Christy!
Hi Hannah, beautiful poem and summary. I hope you’re doing fine. Aloha
I wasn't aware of this Ginsberg poem so thank you for bringing it to life so beautifully. And I think he would have more than approved of you recitation
I can imagine you would enjoy a lot of Ginsberg. I was just mentioning to someone that I have an extremely long biography of Ginsberg on my shelves that I still need to get to. Thank you very much for your compliments, too.
@@HannahsBooks I've read and liked his well know poems, "Howl", "Kaddish" and "America", but I've never picked up a collection of his.
This is wonderful - both the reading of the poem and the discussion following. I’m so pleased that I found your channel! Thank you for this.
Thank you so much for making these videos, they’re really helping me understand poetry on another level and as a Spanish person it makes me so happy to see how loved Garcia Lorca was ❤
What a kind comment, Daniel! Thank you.
Are you my angel? I have loved this poem for a long time and have even tried to memorize it to do a lip-sync of Ginsberg reading it, but it's seems like it's too long for my tiny mind to get down completely in one take. I'm CERTAIN Ginsberg would have been DELIGHTED at you reading of it. Thank you for posting this!
Ooh, that would be excellent! Could you have a text in front of you and glance down between stanzas with subtle cuts between sections? I'd love to see your lip-sync. And speaking of that: will you be back soon making Shakespeare videos? Shaketember is just days away. I am thinking about trying to recite Sonnet 138...
@@HannahsBooks I'm currently trying to get back into the glitter-mood. My hope is that I'll be back in October. For some reason, part of the satisfaction of doing a lip-sync is having the whole thing living in me. I think the most difficult one I did as my Eustace T. Louche character was of Frank O'Hara's poem "Present." I broke down crying while filming and almost abandoned it, but my partner helped me get myself together. Ginsberg's poem is much longer, but maybe one day.... Hearing it in your voice was a true balm.
@@TootightLautrec That sounds so right: having it living in you!
Hannah, your readings are unfailingly spot-on, including this, of Ginsberg.
His poems (to me) often feel quite yin, Cancerian, overwhelmed, and longing for manly love.
So why on Earth would he disapprove of us hearing his words shared by a female voice?
As for your Southern accent, if Ginsberg were a regionally fixated poet, wouldn't he have set this supermarket in New Jersey/York? Along with being bisexual poets, he and Whitman had wide-ranging travel in common too.
If you truly imagine him as somehow scorning the tender, generous homage you pay him here, please read us your favorite Diane DiPrima (or other FemBeat) poet soon. T'would be sublime to hear RANT ranted in your voice, so soft and Southern:
"bring yourself home to yourself, enter the garden
the guy at the gate with the flaming sword is yourself"
Thanks for what you bring us.
Thank you so much, Claire! I absolutely love your comment about Ginsberg not being a regional author. Fascinating point. I don't think he would scorn my reading, but he might be a little surprised or even confused! Thank you so much for the idea of reading Di Prima! I will put her on my list. I thought I knew what I was going to read next, but this may bump that choice for another week...
I posted a reading of Rant today! Thank you so much for the idea and the support!
Beautiful poem. Thank you for sharing!
I love how funny and sad this poem is. Such a wonderful balance.
Wow, what a stunning poem. Great reading. Loved the Virgil comparison. Like in the Divine Comedy, I think I detect a little bit of the “good ol’ days syndrome” in this poem, which is completely natural and human, a way to look at the past that we all tend to share.
Thank you so much, Tom. Yes indeed, a sentimental view (or perhaps just a hope) for the past is key here as it is in so much of what is human.
What peaches, what penumbra, what a reading.
Thank you, Ros! Isn't that a great line?!
Never been a fan of Allen Ginsberg, but you make it work!
Thank you so much, Lucas, for putting together Poetry Thursday!
Cracking poem!
Isn't it great?!
@@HannahsBooks Yeah! Although I think America is my favourite Ginsberg!
@@danecobain America is my son’s favorite, too-at least sometimes.
@@HannahsBooks I memorised it! You can imagine how long that took :D
@@danecobain 💜
Great choice for this Thursday ☺️
This one is a favorite I share with my son. I think I need to start making a list...
Hannah, this was lovely. This is my favorite Ginsberg, too.
It is such a wonderful combination of melancholic thoughtfulness and humor. Just a wonderful poem.
This may not apply to you but I just found out about it last month and it's made a big difference for me. When I had breast cancer in 2008, I had bilateral mastectomies with some lymph nodes removed. No one told me then that it's necessary to massage the remaining nodes and ducts to ensure that lymph backups don't occur in places like the neck.
Thanks! Yes, I have done some message of the areas under my arms and it is definitely helpful. I also often wear a lymphodema sleeve (when exercising or flying) on the side where nodes were removed. It keeps my arm from feeling too boggy. I hope all is well for you. Lots of love.
Him not wanting a southern woman to recite his poem is all the more reason to do it!!
YES! (I have no reason to think he would actually not want a southern woman to read it--but I am pretty sure he would not anticipate it!)