"Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg (poetry reading)

[randycramerart]

love, love, LOVE!

[stintzi]

GRRR! I love your readings! I hate these dislikers!

[SpokenVerse]

@stintzi 40 of them were all the same guy, as revealed by the new analytics.

[dnanalahcnap]

Which way does your beard point tonight? Ahhh

[reksD8]

thank you

[anonflowerdenmark]

Thank You

[MrHeslopian]

I don't get why you have so many thumbs down when most of the commenters seem to love your readings.

[SpokenVerse]

@MrHeslopian All my readings get about the same number of Dislikes. It behaves like one disgruntled lad who has many accounts. Many people notice this. I've suggested to YT that they make them listen for a minute before they can give a rating.

[sonofwalt]

Have always loved this poem, Tom. I was surprised that Ginsberg himself wasn't overly fond of it.

[paulpellicci]

Thanks for reading Allen's poem.

[VikingBodybuilding]

Brilliant. Thank you.

[SaharaDeer]

Beautiful poem, wonderful reading...thank you.

[xtrmsprts]

Ginsberg was like a more enlightened less celebrated reincarnation of whitman.

[adamstokke]

@xtrmsprts More or less, yes. He was an explosion. He did it succinctly.

[xtrmsprts]

@adamstokke Aside from that, even just personality-wise, yes both were incredibly talented gay poets but because ginsberg had consciousness-altering resources like lsd, his verses are more free of dogmatic rules and philosophical boundaries.

[adamstokke]

@xtrmsprts I agree entirely. I was so absolutely privileged to have seen him read this very poem, among others, at UC Berkeley in 1992, and aside from how great that was in and of itself, his wise irreverence and wit left an indelible mark. Also to know that he wrote so many of his poems literally right down the street from Wheeler Hall was quite a bonus. And I had the distinct notion that the shade of Whitman was poking around, somewhere backstage, as well.

[xtrmsprts]

@adamstokke that's brilliant! Yes, Ginsberg is the king.

[carolchrist59]

My favorite Ginsberg poem. Thanks!

[crywalt]

I have Ginsberg reading this in rotation on my mp3 player and have for years. It's fantastic. There's also a version of Ginsberg's "America" you can find which someone set to Tom Waits' "Closing Time". The two mesh perfectly and it sounds great.

Your mistakes are as fine as Ginsberg's pronouncing Charon with ch as in chicken. It's Ginsberg, take it easy!

[jonno52]

Commented earlier but should have said more than just thank you: you read this very well. It's a very moving poem.

[tndowns1122]

This is my first encounter with this poem. Thank you for the wonderful read.