a supermarket in california

i'm in 50s and 60s american lit.

we read four poems by allen ginsberg.

i read "a supermarket in california" and the first time i read that poem was in 2007 or maybe 2008, when justin and i were in our whitman/dickinson senior seminar. when i read it then i liked it and that was all i thought of it. "i like this full stop," repeating "full stop" in my head.

my professor gave a good lecture about allen ginsberg but the analyses were far from opinions or "initial responses" that were mentioned. i only ever think, "i like this poem," or "i don't like this poem," or "this poem reminds me of that other poem."

i liked thinking about allen ginsberg, portrayed by not james franco but maybe some other boy who looks like he could be on lookbook.nu. and then there's whitman, and he's gandalf wearing a pair of trousers perhaps, and the james franco look-alike touches gandalf's beard and they discuss the ripeness of an avocado. you can put it next to an apple and then it would ripen faster, the james franco look-alike says. he's not comfortable saying "we could put it next to an apple" yet. a little girl sucks her finger, staring. they stride on confidently, next stop frozen foods.