Ask a glass of water why it pities the rain. Ask the lunatic yard dog why it tolerates the leash.

Look, the world is everywhere: satellites, end tables, the pink and white poinsettias outside the church reunions and degrees. All those radiant asterisks . . . Soon it will all make sense.

One of Still Lifes many achievements is its paradoxical mix of intensity and stillness. Alexander Longs visions of landscape, identity and History itself, a joke that no one gets are simultaneously meditative and alert, restless and focused. This is a smart, compassionate poet. Still Life is a mesmerizing new book.