Jon Davis's latest book of poems, Improbable Creatures, is bursting with signature inventiveness and the nimble lyricism that David Foster Wallace once praised as " off-the-charts terrific." Like the characters of a new alphabet, Davis's creatures form the language of this stunning collection. And from them emerge new meanings for words we only thought we knew-- for plumage, for song, for nest. Some of his creatures vault from the page, playful proxies for his surprising insights. Others encrypt the poems with a supernatural intensity, like " the darkness leaning its black fur against the windows." Even the ephemeral lives of insects gain sudden, transformative urgency in Davis's hands