Cornkind, How to Get There, A Little Travel Diary, Five Poems, Ave Maria Summary

Using the growing of corn as a metaphor in Cornkind, O'Hara expounds on the theme of fertility. He wonders what the point would be if his having a son to suffer in the world and add nothing to it. After all, the future will be all the son's, whose only connection to the past is his father. This connection, the poet reasons, is the meaning of fertility.

In How to Get There, O'Hara looks at the white October snow and fog, a white blinding manifestation of lies. This fog spreads through alleys and corridors, and the poet looks at the city as a large convocation of denials and deceptions, from a woman lying about her phone number to politicians...