The Bagel by David Ignatow

            David Ignatow is a poet from the New York City area. He started his professional life as a businessman but then switched to poetry. Ignatow taught at numerous colleges and universities including New York University and Columbia University. Throughout his career he received many honors for his writing, within these include a National Institute of Arts and Letters award, Shelley Memorial Award, and two Guggenheim fellowships. Ignatow lived to the ripe, old age of eighty-three when he passed away in 1997.

            The poem The Bagel is written in the first person. It describes a scene of a man stopping to retrieve a bagel from the ground. The bagel subsequently starts rolling away from the man in the wind and down the road. The man becomes incredibly frustrated that he cannot attain this bagel and unfortunately starts rolling down the street as well. This similar rolling of the man and the bagel flips the man’s mood completely and he cheers up.

            The Bagel is not only about a man and bagel rolling down the street together but it has an underlying meaning of conformity. The man is annoyed that the bagel is rolling away from him but once he starts rolling like the bagel he becomes happy. The bagel is analogous to society and the man starts out different than the whole. His mood drastically increases when he is the same as the group, the bagel, and it’s because he finally fits in. Ignatow reassures his readers that it is ok to do what everyone else is doing as long as it makes you happy, so if a bagel is rolling down the street and you start rolling too; it’s ok if it makes you happy. Whatever floats your boat, bagel man.

            Ignatow shows his reassurance by changing his tone throughout The Bagel. In the beginning the man is annoyed that he’s different. He shows this annoyance through the first two thirds of the poem. After he joins in with this glorious rolling, the man and the tone of the poem change to cheerful. Since he’s doing the same thing as the bagel and he doesn’t have to chase the fad anymore it makes the whole poem happier. This crazy bagel creates such problems but then it creates such joy.

            I liked this poem tremendously. It has great imagery and a great sense of humor. Imagine a bagel rolling down a street followed by a man doing the exact same thing! It would be hilarious. Every time I read this poem, I laugh because it is just so ridiculous. I also like the meaning behind it because I tend to follow the crowd and having The Bagel make that ok makes me feel good.