Anatomy of Keys

Poetry. "Make it muscular and be apparent in it," observes Houdini's amanuensis, "words are also escapes." And so they are in a book with the sinew of ANATOMY OF KEYS. In this, Steven Price's brilliant first collection, the familiar contours of Harry Houdini's life are traced anew, from his arrival in America as a child named Ehrich Weiss to the stomach punch that caused an untimely death, and on that armature Price builds a profound reading of Houdini's time and ours. These poems--improbable escapes, astonishingly executed through the figure of Houdini--form the spine of a deep and ardent meditation on what is. "The long poem will never be the same again thanks to Steven Price's remarkable gift as a poet. He has produced for us a masterpiece, a book to be thankful for"--Patrick Lane. Steven Price's work has appeared previously in Breathing Fire 2. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia Writing Program, and currently teaches writing at the University of Victoria.