People don't often confuse poets with rock stars, but a poetry reading by Alexander Long tonight may change some preconceived notions of the genre.

"He's this young, hip, rock-star guy," Camille-Yvette Welsch, said professor of English and co-coordinator for the series. "I think his books are a pretty good mix of the educated guy that he is and references to pop music and culture."

Long, a poet and assistant professor at Philadelphia University, will read from his poetry as part of the Red Weather Reading Series at 8 tonight in 112 Walker. Long said he knows how to give a good reading and engage an audience.

"I'm not an entertainer per se, but I like to think that my poems are engaging and specific enough that a wide variety of people should be able to gather at least one line or one image that can carry them," he said.

Long also has certain characteristics that make him a perfect fit for the reading series, said Cindy Clem, the other coordinator of the series.

"He's a young writer -- newly published," she said. "He's a musician, as well. He seems like he would appeal to undergrads since he's not as established yet."

This multi-faceted approach to writing is one of Long's greatest assets, Welsch said.

"He has a pretty straightforward voice. It's interesting that he can incorporate high and low culture into the same poem," she said.

Long said he does include cultural references in his poetry but said his work also goes deeper than that.

Tonight, Long will read from Vigil, a book of poems released in 2006 and composed primarily of elegies that praise and commemorate the dead.

Long's life experiences have provided inspiration for most of his poems, he said.

"I was blessed and cursed," Long said.

"I had two good friends die when I was 18 and 19, and I didn't have the medicine of poetry to get through it. That's put the filter in whatever I've written since then. To lose two people so close to me at that fairly impressionable age will leave its mark," he added.

The somber notes of Vigil reflect these events in his life, Long said. But he added that not all of his poetry contains these themes.

"I've tried to extract as much beauty as I can, but I'm not someone who thinks everything is beauty and fluffy clouds. ... I'm trying to be as authentic as I can. My poetry's not for everyone, but whose is?" Long said.