The Bagel

David Ignatow

I stopped to pick up the bagel
rolling away in the wind,
annoyed with myself
for having dropped it
as if it were a portent.
Faster and faster it rolled,
with me running after it
bent low, gritting my teeth,
and I found myself doubled over
and rolling down the street
head over heels, one complete somersault
after another like a bagel
and strangely happy with myself.

The speaker of this poem is a man chasing after his bagel, after it has rolled away. He is frustrated with his bagel because he dropped it and then ended up falling, rolling and doing a somersault, but he is also happy because he caught it. In this poem the reader can imagine the way the man is rolling because he is compared to the bagel when it rolls (simile). The reader can also imagine how the man is running "bent low, gritting my teeth" he is focused on grabbing that bagel. In this poem, there is a simile, and not much other figurative language.

The meaning of this poem is to not get frustrated with someone or something until you have been in his, her, or its same situation. The man is annoyed by the bagel when it starts rolling and he continues to be until he starts rolling like the bagel. Then his mood changes to happy.