Poem of the week

I've been putting up a poem outside my office door every week. I get them from "A Poem a Day," a collection for high school students curated by Billy Collins. It is here for now: https://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html

It's a little tricky choosing poems from this list. They can't be too long, or too overtly about death, love, sex, religion - any of the classic topics for poetry and high school students. Nature is a safe topic, but those poems tend to be long. It's fun to sort through and pick one that strikes my fancy!

This week I chose this one:

The Bagel

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.

—David Ignatow

I'm working long days the next few days so I would like to stay happy with myself as I roll along like a bagel too! Humans are tori after all.