Low voltage Dominique Fourcade, Stéphane Bouquet and poetic electricity

This article studies modern expressions that define poetry as an electric force, capable of tension and power. The focus is placed on the metaphorical expression of “low voltage” poems, formulated by Dominique Fourcade and Stéphane Bouquet. Their definitions and practice of low voltage suggest a history of poetic electricity: lowering the tension of a poem is both salvaging it from modernist technological fantasies and bringing it into a pacified conversation with the world.