SOURCE: “David Ignatow: Three Appreciations,” in American Poetry, Vol. 3, No. 2, Winter, 1986, pp. 37-41.

In the following excerpt, Wagner argues that Ignatow creates a personal bond with his readers that gives his works greater resonance.

Taking our cue from Ignatow's poems themselves, I would like to stress that—much as we love the poet—our attention falls on the words, the lines, the open and yet always coercive form of Ignatow's poems. Those poems give us insight, direction; they express the anger and the joy of living; and they also provide a map for our own voyage of discovery. From “Stages,” “I am somewhere left behind in a dream / that did not end with my awakening / to what I do not own. With music and drums / I awoke. …” And “A man confronted by masks / begins to maneuver / out of their reach.” Such a triad describes so well the impetus...