Wanting to escape is important, of course.
Surprising how many overlook this point.
Better still to stack the odds.
The rest depends how long
you can keep the audience in your corner.
Houdini couldn’t walk through walls.
He almost always had a key
and once out of the box
he would read a while,
let the tension build before crashing
breathless through the screen.
When he died suddenly,
there was no time to prepare;
no chance to hide the key.
Still he kept them waiting.
Kept everyone waiting
long after the lights went up.
Wanting to escape is important, of course.
Tony Noon
