The Journey

By David Ignatow 1914–1997 David Ignatow

I am looking for a past

I can rely on

in order to look to death

with equanimity.

What was given me:

my mother’s largeness

to protect me,

my father’s regularity

in coming home from work

at night, his opening the door

silently and smiling,

pleased to be back

and the lights on

in all the rooms

through which I could run

freely or sit at ease

at table and do my homework

undisturbed: love arranged

as order directed at the next day.

Going to bed was a journey.

David Ignatow, “The Journey” from Against the Evidence: Selected Poems 1934-1994. Copyright © 1993 by David Ignatow. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press.

Source: Against the Evidence: Selected Poems 1934-1994 (Wesleyan University Press, 1993)

Biography

David Ignatow is remembered as a poet who wrote popular verse about the common man and the issues encountered in daily life. In all, he wrote or edited more than twenty-five books and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Poetry Society of America's Shelley Memorial Prize and Robert Frost Medal, the Bollingen Prize, and the John Steinbeck Award. Early in his career he worked in a butcher shop. He also helped out in . . .

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