Meaning Of The Bagel Poem By David Ignatow

I don’t know why, but this poem really attracts my liking.
I think its just cause its really wired and off putting at first before you can understand the real meaning. David Ignatow (the author) brings in the reader by writing an outrageous peom and just before it could end he gives it meaning. In my opinion I believe Ignatow is trying to display many different meanings behind this poem I think the big on is it doesn’t matter what age you are you can always have fun like a child. The actual bagel had nothing to do with the meaning of the poem, it was just a symbol. i think it symbolizes our ideas and actions and shows us not to focus on one thing but to enjoy life to the fullest. It’s like the bagel leads him into having fun because he was frustrated for dropping it in the first place and in the end he still has fun with it. In the fifth stanza of the poem Ignatow says “as if it were a portent” showing that there is not real meaning behind why its there but instead it just stands as a symbol. This symbol symbolized any sort of earthly thing that we chase after: money, love, power, etc, and because these things are nessecityies in life, it gives meaning to why he whould want that bagle so much.
Meaning the voice represents our society. The voice in this poem sounded kind of distressed and uptight in the beginning like it was already previously having a bad day, but as the poem goes on the voice starts to get slightly less uptight and a little more playful. Witch relates back to the point “it doesn’t matter what age you are you can always have fun like a child”, as the voice grows more playful(like a child) it looses sight of it’s damming “adult life” witch is symbolized through the