Alexis Stamatis' The Illness of Soft Things is a visionary, poetic triptych that explores the unseen forces shaping human existence. The book marks the author's return to poetry after two and a half decades and is organized into three parts: a poetic lament written in the language of quantum physics, an imaginary “lost diary” of Arthur Rimbaud — featuring poems Rimbaud might have written had he not fallen silent — and an encyclopedia of possible worlds, events that never happened but left traces on the soul like real occurrences.

Stamatis creates a rare hybrid of scientific reflection, lyrical intensity, and metafiction. With this work, the author returns to poetry with a power that touches the timeless. Thus, the book becomes a work of great precision and visionary strength, a journey into the matter of things we touch but never manage to hold.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
“Soft things” do not ask for space yet displace it. They are moments that pass quickly but remain within us as subtle shifts of life. In The Lament of Quanta I write about the body, loss, and the trace of relationships through the language of physics. In Arthur Rimbaud’s Lost Diary I hear a Rimbaud who continued to write within his silence. And in the Encyclopedia of What Will Not Happen I record what did not occur but persisted as an absolute experience.