The Bagel
David Ignatow
I stopped to pick up the bagelrolling away in the wind,annoyed with myselffor having dropped itas if it were a portent.Faster and faster it rolled,with me running after itbent low, gritting my teeth,and I found myself doubled overand rolling down the streethead over heels, one complete somersaultafter another like a bageland strangely happy with myself.

The speake of this poem is probably a man out of his teen years. He is probably working and busy if he doesn't have time to run after a rolling bagel.
The diction of the poem is about a busy man chasing a bagel down the street. The man is clearly aggrivated, griting his teeth and bent low. He ends up tripping and falling down in a somersault. He finally sees the humor in the situation and his mood changes to happiness.
Some imagery in this poem would be a bagel rolling on its edge down the street in the wind. Or, a man tripping over himself and looking foolish and uncomfortable. He ends up somersaulting over himself.
Some figurative language in the poem would be "dropped is as if it were a portent" which is a simile."Faster and Faster" is a use of repition to exxagerate a point.
I think the meaning of this poem is how older people become so serious and busy. Sometimes they need to loosen up and forget and laugh and calm down.