The quiet musings of the speaker as he peruses through the banal image of a supermarket in California brings to mind the paradoxical feeling of discovering the profound in ordinary experiences. But, the interior musings of the speaker reveals a restlessness or ennui that the speaker feels is inherent to his experience. The experience of filling his mind with images leaves the speaker feeling more hungry for inspiration as he questions the meaning of his thoughts.

The lines between the ordinary and the extraordinary are slowly muddled as famous poets such Walt Whitman and Garcia Lorca wander in the grocery store. This experience of visualizing the brilliant and the plain in the most mundane of places is one that is familiar to me. But, I also believe, that Ginsberg’s poem is not really about the supermarket and the visualization of great poets; the entire poem is an extension of our creative conscience.

Whenever I try to create something, whether it be an art piece or this essay, I always start out trying to formulate my thoughts by first looking for inspirations which will help such a project. However, brainstorming is quite a messy process; the scramble of finding focus, the frequent distractions in my environment and the random existential thoughts seem to jumble in my head. The poem addresses this dilemma by having Whitman say, “Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?”. 

The frustrating experience to block everything out and find a focus is also perfectly addressed when the speaker asks Whitman where they are going. It’s almost as if Ginsberg understands that even when we follow our creative inspirations, we might still not know where the path may lead us. Perhaps, that is why I am so drawn to this poem. It visualizes a creative process that is both thrilling and frustrating while also finding the beautiful in the mundane.