Allen Ginsberg's A Supermarket In California

Allen Ginsberg’s poem, “A Supermarket in California,” is not as simple as its title may lead readers to believe. The poem takes readers on a trip through a supermarket in California, hence the title of the piece. In the poem, the speaker runs into other poets Walt Whitman and Garcia Lorca in the supermarket while shopping for groceries -- or something else. Whether it be men or societal acceptance that they are shopping for, it can be seen that the speaker and the other poets do not belong in the supermarket. Even though it is clear that the speaker is an outsider in the poem, it does not explicitly state why. While the poem’s main theme is not exactly centered around sexual identity, there are some subtle yet important clues in the poem that suggest that the speaker's outsider status is due to his sexual orientation.
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker wishes that he lived in a more open and accepting time like the one the famous poet Whitman lived in when he was alive. Although society’s acceptance of homosexuality typically moves forward with time, it can be seen

The American Dream can mean different things to different people, but they are often rooted in love. Although the suggestive nature of the poem may imply that Whitman is only looking for sex, he “eye[s] the grocery boys” because he is seeking out a companion (line 11-12). In the same way that Whitman is looking for a man, the speaker is looking for acceptance from society. In the poem, the speaker fears that he will always live a “solitary” and “lonely” life (line 24-25). He dreams of the “lost America of love,” a time where everyone was accepted for who they are (line 26). While Whitman’s version of the American dream and the speaker’s does differ, they both stem from a want to feel loved and to be accepted by