The poetry of Ferlinghetti and Ginsberg

I have a few thoughts about “Dog” written by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. We may say that in this poem the dog stands for the author, as he passes through the streets of San Francisco and sees “things” that are bigger and smaller than he is and “things” that smells like he smells. This triple division is interesting, just like the recurring phrase, “The dog trots freely in the street”, which is like a refrain in the poem. We can easily imagine this freely trotting dog as he sees the city landmarks like Chinatown, the Meat Market, the Romeo Ravioli Factory and Coit’s Tower. Besides the usual cityscape (drunks in doorways, fish, ants, puddles, cats, cigars, babies) he can see many other, obviously more interesting, things as well. Just like policemen. Here we can see the poet’s opinion about policemen, he does not hate them, “He merely has no use for them”. After this allusion comes another, even more interesting one, referring to the atmosphere of the 50s in America, to the “Un-American Committee”, persecuting suspicious Communists in the country. Strangely, the dog is not afraid of the Committee (and of its leader, Congressman Doyle). This could show us the opinion of the poet as well; the counterculture supports revolutions and does not afraid of the power of the leaders. However, this dog is said to be “sad” and “serious” at the same time. These two adjectives may show us that the revolutionists are sad because of the bad conditions they have to live in, and they are serious as well in their decisions and revolutions. He is free and has his own life to live and his own fleas to eat (i.e. his own issues and problems) and “He will not be muzzled”, so he will not be silenced by the government or some “stronger” people. The most provocative part is coming up: “Congressman Doyle is just another/ fire hydrant/ to him”, i.e. he is not interested in him, and in his decisions or orders, he is just urinating him. I liked the pun with the homophonous words “tale” and “tail”, they just spiced the poem up. The next lines must be making fun of politics; I do not think the poet was interested in these things: the dog is democratic and “engaged in real free enterprise”.
My other choice is the famous “A Supermarket in California” by Allen Ginsberg. The evocation of Walt Whitman in a California supermarket is very surprising, what would he do in a modern store full of people, where “whole families shopping at night!”? Federico García Lorca seems to be out of place as well, but we should know the only thing linking these three poets: they were all homosexual; I think this is the reason why Ginsberg puts them together. Whitman is said to be lonely and childless, he is eying the grocery boys- one more allusion to homosexuality. Then Ginsberg addresses Whitman, they should decide where to go, their journey is said to be an “odyssey”. Besides this classical allusion, we have one more in the closing lines, speaking about Charon and the Lethe.