Character Shoes

Character Shoes, Kate Light’s posthumous collection, exhilarates and enchants like a command performance. The gifts and the curse of the young Sleeping Beauty in Tchaikovski’s ballet (“Some fairy picked/ and pricked her for all time”) become a metaphor for the initial spark of inspiration within the child whose life would be spent in the performing arts. Whether Light’s subject is the pursuit and performance of onstage excellence, the power of love for good or ill, or the joys and challenge...