This April marks the 30th iteration of National Poetry Month, which was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending one great poem to read every (work) day of the month. We make no claim (except when we do) that these poems are the “best” poems in any category; they are simply poems we love. The only other thing they all have in common is that they are available to read for free online, so you can enjoy them along with us. The internet is still good for some things, after all. Today we recommend:
Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California”
Oh to wander the aisles of the local supermarket with Walt Whitman, watching the fluorescent light catch in his beard as he stands, stunned, over the shining produce. Ginsberg’s poem brings this dream to life, and we get to watch as a very confused Whitman wanders the aisles and muses about the disconnection from nature that haunts the modern world. It’s the kind of high/low idea that characterizes a lot of Ginsberg’s poems, but I feel that it’s done especially well in this piece. Also, it’s so catchy. Can a poem be catchy? I get lines of this poem stuck in my head all the time. I quote them to my best friend. “Who killed the porkchops? What price bananas?” I ask them, and they respond, “Are you my angel?”
I want to make it clear here that I’m not usually the kind of person who has whole poems stored in their head. But “A Supermarket in California” isn’t just any poem. It’s a perfect melding of philosophical ideas and concrete images. It’s a question about the state of the country but it’s also full of avocados and neon lights and blue cars in the driveway. Not every poem can evoke the waters of the Lethe in the same breath as it mentions artichokes and stacks of cans. But not every poem is “A Supermarket in California.”
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