For me, this poem paid tribute to Whitman in two ways. The first way is it's content. For the last two-thirds of the poem, Ginsberg walks with Whitman, and treats him like a father, a teacher, and a role model. And yet, somehow this poem also adds insults to Whitman's name. A childless, lonely old grubber, Ginsberg wrote. It could be that he respected Whitman so much that he wasn't afraid to add playful insults to his description. Or perhaps it's the complete opposite, who knows? The last four lines of this poem show the most admiration for Whitman:
"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?" (A Supermarket in California, lines 13-16)
The second way Ginsberg pays tribute to Whitman is in this poetry's style. Like Whitman's, it has a unique kind of flow to it; it naturally rambles. Time is not wasted counting syllables or rhyming. That's not to say that this poem was written in a rush, it probably wasn't, it just has a bit more freedom than say, the Elizabethan poems.
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