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In the absence of any definite individuals among its protagonists, Blake Butler’s Scorch Atlas (featherproof press, 2009) stages the transformations of substances, both in its contents and its forms, partly through a refined elaboration of the visual aspect of the seemingly blotted or maculated pages, meant to illustrate degradation. Decaying matter and bodies are told in an unheard-of language, constantly deviating from common uses and enhancing the play on sounds and rhythms. This paper aims at showing how the materiality of language in Scorch Atlas may paradoxically both reflect the desire to let the body express itself in words and in the book at large, and convey a secret aspiration towards immateriality as an attempt to escape the passing of time.