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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?

Berkeley, 1955

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The theme of illusion is a theme that is typical of postmodern poetry and is evident in this poem. The theme of illusion is used in such a way, that the poet’s thoughts and ideas appear to be real. The poet depicts true and realistic scenes from the supermarket, by merging from an illusionary perspective, into a realistic one. Illusion and reality are connected (Jenson, 2016). These thoughts and ideas that Ginsberg is portraying cannot possibly be real because Whitman was a well-known American poet who had passed away 63 years prior to the release of this poem, therefore we know that Ginsberg is depicting an illusion.

Other techniques that are typical of postmodern poetry, that can be found in this poem, is that of the structure and form of the poem which is unconventional. In this poem, we can identify the use of long sentences, which is different from standard poetry, and therefore marks that of postmodern poetry (Jenson, 2016). Enjambment is also used widely in the poem.

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"A Supermarket in California" presents technological progress as a kind of alienation. We can use Ginsberg’s free verse artistry to argue about our society's strangeness and the chance of salvation through art.
Ginsberg makes the speaker of the poem wander around free verse pondering on his thoughts and the streets, believing he encounters Walt Whitman in a supermarket. He talks about the ideal American through the symbolism of this famous controversial poet.

The speaker alludes to American capitalism and consumerism by setting the poem at a supermarket, which is a place of luxury and choice. Also, by situating the supermarket in California the speaker alludes to the emphasis placed on material acquisition in society during the Gold Rush of 1849 when California was viewed as the promised land of America. Throughout his aimless stroll weighty questions regarding the value of technological improvements are posed but no answers are given. Ginsberg uses word choice, structure and symbols to present contemporary life as a new existence in which we are losing access to the past. We are forced to contemplate the impact of this new alienating world to ourselves.
Ginsberg allows the speaker to explore the values of the transcendentalists and their pursuit of a truer self as a way to redeem themselves from the new alienating world.
The speaker refers to the supermarket as artificial and neon. He is horrified by the families violating what he believes to be natural and authentic towards an inorganic, processed and preserved fascination caused by consumerism.

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Black/Dark Humor is a literary device used to discuss taboo subjects while adding an element of comedy (Google Dictionary). In simple terms, black/dark humor is simply a non-serious way of treating or dealing with serious subjects.

The poem "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg was written in 1955, a post-war and cold war age in the United States of America. The poem describes the journey of the narrator from the city streets to the aisles of the supermarket.  American poet  Allen Ginsberg emphasizes how individual self-identity is commercialized/exploited in consumer societies such as Post-war America, in the 1950`s. Allen Ginsberg attempts to show how the traumas and fears caused by the wars are just masked (covered up) by the momentary fulfillment individuals receive by spending money. This further emphasizes the fact that people believed that consuming products advertised by the media would bring them happiness

Everyone believes consumerism is harmless but, the poet calls it out for what it is, a mere cover-up for what people truly feel.

The poet tries but cannot resist the temptation to give in to the new norm, consumerism. He finds himself wandering the aisles of the supermarket, hoping to find the things he truly needs and desires. This action makes him exactly like everyone else, he has become another lost individual who has been "brainwashed" and/or tricked by the media. The poem shows that human beings have traded human relationships for materialism.  The poet speaks about aisles that are filled with products, a supermarket filled with people yet, all of them are just lonely people, surrounded by strangers (could be actual strangers or their families) looking for something to fill their lonely lives and homes. The poem paints a picture of fun, options but in the end, the supermarkets have simply become a distraction, a momentary escape from the loneliness they feel inside.

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Postmodern poetry epitomises the concept of a decentered universe in which the individual does not exist in isolation.  Thus it is no surprise that intertextuality is one of the main characteristics of postmodern poetry.  Intertextuality, refers to the relationship between two or more pieces of literature.  Post-modernist view the canon of literature as an interwoven network of literary works and history. The link to other texts may be obvious, with a direct link to another piece of work, or it could be more subtle (Sharma & Chaudhary, 2011).

In the case of A Supermarket in California, Ginsberg makes use of intertextuality a number of times. Throughout the poem Ginsberg mentions two poets, namely Walt Whitman and Garcia Lorca.  The form of Ginsberg’s poem is reminiscent of that of Whitman’s.  This is the first example of intertextuality within the poem (Gair & Georganta, 2012).  In addition to the similar form, other elements of Whitman’s work is evident throughout the poem, for example the confrontation of the materialistic world with the ideal of unity, or oneness, of all creation (Margarita San Cristóbal Gajardo, 2009).  Finally, in the last stanza Ginsberg makes reference to the Greek myth, The Ferryman and the River Styx.  Unlike before, this reference is directly stated in the poem, as opposed to referencing Whitman through the form of the poem (Margarita San Cristóbal Gajardo, 2009).

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Summative Group Assignment
ENGV 321
Activity 3.2.2
Group 15

Kamille Reekers (32914660)
Luke Hudson-Piccione (32652852)
Raeesah Farouk (32652682)
Simone Gordon (29813174)