The Bagel

By 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.}

,.~*' My Reaction '*~.,
The poem had a funny image of a man or likely a woman carrying a big bag of bagels and chasing one of them. The shortness and the character's inner dialogue indeed supported the humor of the story. I could imagine the poor bagel rolling non stop and the character chasing after limpily due to the heaviness of the bag. Primarily the story seemed a bit too simple, but everyday events are funny all, like finding a pencil right under your nose after looking for it for hours, or accidentally eating dog food. The last couple stanzas were interesting; the character was probably happy because instead of embarassingly falling over and spilling all the other bagels, he or she did something unexpected. The character was probably thinking, "Oh gosh I'm going to fall over soon", but was amazed by doing a good and complete somersault. This can be seen in everday lives; "Oh my gosh! did you see that? That was totally unexpected." The poem was nice and short, because in the end the reader could nod his or her head in agreement.