Vain Empires

Displaying a magnificent range of topical and formal resources, Logan's fourth collection is a formidable, morally sophisticated accomplishment. Whether the subject is Renaissance witch hunts, Robert Boyle's pigeon or wartime practices in the Middle East, Logan's speakers display a controlled outrage at the atrocities committed in progress's wake: ""The oranges swell within the Age of Reason,"" Logan writes, ""New realms invent new torture, new anatomies/ that starve the paper from the settling ink,/ the fraught wealth turning butchery to science."" When the time frame shifts to the present, and nostalgia does not pervade Logan's predominantly Floridian and English landscapes, they meet with urbane wit, as in ""N.E. Seventh Street as the Pequod"": ""His white-finned Cadillac/ is difficult to steer./ Its patchwork paint suggests/ the brickwork of Vermeer."" Historical dramatic monologues, including ""Van Gogh in the Pulpit,"" ""The Death of Pliny the Elder"" and the majestic (and apocryphal) ""Keats in India,"" allow us a glimpse at the power of individual grace. Following the tough-minded, authentically adventurous formalism of Sullen Weedy Lakes, which appeared a decade ago, this collection's once opulent, now crumbling edifices conceal the hope that our dabblings with empire might still teach us something. (Mar.)