Profiling a Poet

Poetry derives from the ego and consequently is a product of that ego. It combines thought and experience with artistic talent. Great numbers of people feel a need to express something through poetry. They all have an ego, however the few great are separated from the mass primarily by a depth of life experience and knowledge. Artistry is manifest in aesthetic appreciation, yet it is laden with variables including taste, intrinsic skill, and eloquence. Poetry suffers a problem in that anyone can assert to being a poet, and within an egalitarian age all offerings are sacrosanct. Thus the good and great poets float in a tub with the mediocre and the down right horrible and few readers can tell the difference or even care to discern. This sad fact means that civilization’s great oral and literary art form, the one that for three millennia has spoken directly for the people, is now cast within a polluted bilge, losing its functionally, its historic utility, and its honored position as a fine art. 

Duane Robert Pierson

(Constructed by a friend out of material extracted from a living history
interview conducted by a student at a local university)

The reader will find here a profile of Duane Robert Pierson, who writes quality poetry. Respected critics view his work as being among this country’s best. His persona, ability and subject matter reach to a lofty scale. Nevertheless his product is unseen and unheralded, it simply floats off into the ether. Much of this neglect is his fault as he arrogantly refuses to be judged by those he considers incapable. Indeed, there are poets whom he admires, including some contemporaries. However, he readily asserts that he does not write poetry for poets. He writes for the common person. He has peculiar ability arising from a truly unique background coupled with innate intellectual capability. A solid claim is made here that Duane Robert Pierson, as much as any living poet exemplifies all the special qualifications necessary to be a great poet.

Academic Interests – They are highly eclectic, to include evolutionary biology, history in total (recently late Georgian and Regency), history of science, macroeconomics, art. Always he has had a tendency to become obsessed with a subject and to devour it.  He now is a recluse lost in arcane intellectual endeavor and misanthropy.

One-room School House to Ivy League – His education began in a one-room school, with one teacher, nine grades, no electricity, no indoor plumbing. Possessing a desire to play big time football and inflicted with romantic notions about the Old South (long exorcised), the poet graduated from University of Alabama majoring in history and biology. He later received Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Cornell University.

Intelligence – Always questions about the exact nature of his intelligence. Schools constantly analyzed him because of perceived underperformance. The fact is that that from early childhood he was independent in his academic pursuits, studying and learning in an autodidactic undisciplined manner. He became a reluctant member of Mensa solely to be presumptive and prove to certain people that he is not as stupid as he looks and acts. He always demonstrated great precocity in the area of analytical ability, however he appears dumber than a rock in other areas.

Personality Peculiarities - Hyper sensitive, he can be thrown into a funk by a most casual remark. Can become very combative if even casually challenged. Often faithfully blind as to the motivations and trustworthiness of others, thus he is easily susceptible to betrayal. He possesses a romantic proclivity to create heroes out of acquaintances, exhibiting Pygmalion tendencies.  He is great at understanding finance and macroeconomics, yet has a curious incapacity to accumulate wealth for himself. It is said of him that there exist a thin line between loving and admiring him and hating and detesting him.

Born Leader - A straw boss on a road construction crew while in college, mason, business executive and CEO, founded and directed various environmental and conservation organizations, worked in advertising and market research, college professor, taught elementary and high school, managed art gallery, photographer, farmer, business consultant, infantry officer, and writer published in many venues. In 1979 a prominent national social activist called him the most dangerous man in America because of his ability to lead and influence others. This statement caused serious introspection on his part leading to his withdrawal from overt social activism.

Explosive Employment Record – He starts jobs outstandingly and ends ungracefully. He has built and saved many organizations in the public and private sector, often brought in as savior to a forlorn hope.  Inevitably all begins with charismatic leadership, praise, unbelievable results, and eventually ends with his services being aborted. Discord, difficult to express, usually leads to his expulsion by a kangaroo court. A critic once observed that he makes the difficult appear so easy that every observer believes that they too can do it, and they eventually find they cannot.  In the long run what brings him to noteworthy success cannot keep him there.

World War II - Family, friends, and neighbors were hit hard. Lost uncles, father's cousins, and others close to family. This evoked childhood memories of fear and excitement, sobbing, windows full of Gold Stars, and a permeating sadness that always resides within.

Death Always A Constant Presence - Older generations passed by with regularity, always funerals. Young pre-teen friend accidentally shot self and died in road, High school friend blown away during hunting accident in ninth grade. A best friend, member of his wedding party and junior at Yale, killed by drunken driver on New Year's eve, another friend died when a jealous lover torched his house, another died in a fiery road crash, four year old nephew killed by his father in a shooting accident, this brother dying young never recovering from the tragedy, his father died of heart attack as his youngest brother ran for a touchdown, his mother died on poet's birthday exactly fifty years after abandonment.   There are many others, including war losses and drug deaths.

Athletics – He played football, hockey, lacrosse, and wrestled. He has coached championship football and wrestling. Hockey his major love since first donning skates (his father once a competitive figure skater). He quit playing organized hockey at age 50. Attempted football at Alabama and had a slight acquaintance with the great Bear Bryant. Never had a lot of athletic ability, which is a good thing because with his obsessive personality any success would have swallowed him.  His high school football coach told him he did not have much ability but more guts that anyone he ever coached.  He as always been involved in wilderness pursuits

Social Milieu – A story of stark contrasts. A life of extreme peaks and valleys, he experienced the direst poverty and lived within the uppermost academic, financial, and social strata. His father, an erratic genius who loved the poor, often had his own family within their ranks. Contrastingly there were saner family connections providing periods of normalcy and good living, chance alone sometimes placed him within fortuitous positions, and he enjoys a certain Zelig like attribute that positioned him among celebrities and social and academic elites. Teddy Roosevelt III was a best friend and many other illustrious families in America and England have been friends and acquaintances.

Female Relationships – A strange part of his legend. There were too many opportunities starting far too young, and they came too easily.  There is much drama in the history of his relationships with women, enough for a shelf of novels.  He asserts that there were love affairs with woman who had the good fortune to move on to calmer destinies and he quotes a line from Shakespeare's Sonnet 42, "If I lose thee, my loss is my love's gain" A friend once remarked that the excess of women was a large drain against his possible future achievements. It is difficult to understand the female attraction to him, as there are no particular assets or allurements.  Pursuing women and intimate relationships have never been a primary goal of his however they are persistent within his story, a strange phenomenon indeed.

Family Linage - Ancestry in England can be traced to Viking invaders in 8th Century. First English immigrants came to America in 1639. Dutch ancestors arrived in early 17th Century. French appeared before 19th Century. Pierson married early and unwisely for all concerned, with one fortunate benefit - that being issue – excellent progeny including a son, daughter and six grandchildren. Very much appreciating the benefits of family life, he has never experienced much good family life.

Father, the Omnipresent Force – Thorough description would require a massive volume, yet that would not do justice. A peculiar genius, autodidactic, a polymath, constructed a large house at age 17, rode the rails during part of the depression, highly skilled outdoorsman and hunter, built his own tools and machines, farmer, fighter for rights of the poor, among many other attributes. Had a Christ like compassion and kindness, yet could when triggered fire up into tremendous rage. Seemed to be a handsome, superhuman man who was exceedingly strong, could do anything and fit nowhere. Remains a legend to those who know him

Mother – To understand it is best to read Duane Robert Pierson’s Ode to Frieda. She was a beautiful, sexy, and brilliant girl who became a child mother. Walked out on Christmas Eve when he was seven leaving indelible affects. One suspects that much of the poets character resides within the brief relationship with his mother.

Is Pierson a Great Poet?

- Comments on his works -
These comments regarding five of his seven books are excepts of published remarks from prominent poets, bookstore owners, noted artists, and literary professionals:

ON REVIVING A LOST REVOLUTION  

“This is an uncompromising criticism of materialistic America, the most powerful statement since Howl, and I believe more artistic.”

ODE TO FRIEDA

“I consider this a masterpiece in American literature. With a big time publisher this would be awarded a Pulitzer Prize”

WHEN YOUNG MEN DIE

“War is a very hard business. Its essence is almost impossible to catch. Poets often try. Pierson does a good job bringing us the glory, horror, drudgery, and inevitably - the sorrow.” (by a retired Marine Corps Captain)

“This might be the best book of war poetry since the era of the great World War I poets”

FROGS, DOGS, and ECLOGUES

“The poems by Duane Robert Pierson in this latest collection are familiar subjects approached by Pierson in a singular way. The reader will recognize the landscape and will discover a hidden nook they may have overlooked a hundred times before”

“This is my comfort book. I keep it next to my bed and reread it at least once a month”

THE INDICTMENT

“In these ninety poems Duane Robert Pierson indicts the entire human species contending it to be a stupendous destructive power that utilizes societal ignorance, consumerism, materialism, hedonism, superstition, and the dynamics of unrestrained capitalism to threaten the existence of itself and all living things. A book that will have tremendous impact on how we humans look at ourselves”