Infrathin: An Experiment in Micropoetics

Marjorie Perloff's "micropoetics" explores how poetry can create new meanings by aligning seemingly unrelated words and phrases through sound, visual layout, etymology, grammar, and construction. She suggests that the traditional focus on a poem's "about" does not fully appreciate its infrathin possibilities, challenging our habits of reading and addressing the essence of what makes poetry poetry.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 03 September 2021
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Marcel Duchamp, in his playful use of the term "infrathin," refers to the slightest shade of difference that exists between the report of a gunshot and the appearance of the bullet hole, or between two objects in a series created from the same mold. This concept extends beyond the realm of ordinary discourse and encompasses the poetic language. Marjorie Perloff, a renowned poet and critic, posits that poetry can be best understood as the language of infrathin.

In poetry, words and phrases that may appear unrelated in everyday conversation are skillfully reorganized through sound, visual layout, etymology, grammar, and construction to create something entirely new. Perloff's revisionist "micropoetics" draws primarily on major modernist poets such as Stein, Yeats, Beckett, and others, emphasizing that the conventional focus on what a poem is "about" fails to fully appreciate its infrathin possibilities.

Through a range of examples, from Goethe's "Wanderers Night Song" to Eliot's Four Quartets and Rae Armantrout's minimalist lyricism, Infrathin challenges our current habits of reading and seeks to answer the fundamental question: what makes poetry poetry? By exploring the infrathin realm, poetry invites us to perceive the world in new and profound ways, fostering a deeper understanding of the human experience and the complexities of the universe.

Weight: 416g
Dimension: 152 x 226 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226798509