Earlier poems: Wild Orphan Summary

In this poem Ginsberg gives us the story of a young boy who is out on a walk with his mother. They walk by a railroad and a river. The boy imagines riding in cars, and there is the implication in the first verse that his father was a hot rod enthusiast.

Ginsberg relates that the boy is lonely and lives in Tarrytown where he doesn't see fancy cars, but only people who live vacant lives. The boy is a dreamer and imagines a better home life. Ginsberg asks, in the poem, if the boy will have hallucinations of a family life that was once better - will he remember past happy times that were once a part of his family life.

Ginsberg further relates that it is rare when the boy experiences that happiness now. The...