Read This: Anatomy of Keys
Poetry by Steven Price (Brick Books)
REVIEW BY Nicholas Bradley
In his remarkably ambitious first book of poetry, Steven Price depicts the life of Harry Houdini, revelling in the metaphorical richness of the escape artist’s vocation. The poems reflect upon the meaning of imprisonment and freedom; in portraying Houdini’s exploits, Price attempts to show that “the marvellous” can “interrupt our lives”—even if those lives are essentially tragic. His technical reach is impressive: He conjures all sorts of tricks, juggling a host of forms, voices and intriguingly unusual words such as kedge, fug, luffing, glistered and slub. Price’s dedication to his subject is also admirable, but 140 pages is probably too much Houdini for most readers. In her recent memoir-in-verse, PK Page squeezed her own life into fewer than 100 pages; Anatomy of Keys would have been stronger had Price been so concise. But at its best, his account of an attempt to escape the sadness of the world is enchanting and moving.
