Poetry Friday--Remembering Reynolds Price

Last week the novelist, Reynolds Price, passed away at age 77. In his obituary, the New York Times called him "one of the most important voices in modern Southern fiction." We have a number of his novels, including the notable Kate Vaiden [F PRI].

Reynolds was also an accomplished poet. The Collected Poems [811 PRI] is on the shelf, and in memory of this accomplished writer, I'd like to share "Anniversary."

Anniversary

Three years ago this week,
         You found an egg
Beside a hot crossroad,
         Pierced, drained but spared;
Intact--and no known hen
         For four, five miles.
How? Who? and Why? I took it
         As you gave it--
Silent gift--and propped it
         In a window.
Those years pass. Its eyeless
         Muddy gaze
Survives and says this much--
         "Function can change,
Form persevere,
         Fragile wholes
Be ruined yet outlast lives."

A humdinger of an ending, don't you think?

Head over to Wild Rose Reader and spend a little time with Elaine and the Poetry Friday Round-Up.