There's No I in Debris

There Is No I in Debris is a walking and talking contradiction. Of course, as a matter of fact, the English letter is plain to see. If, however, the reader would care to acknowledge the fluid nature of that self who processes experience with images and words, the effect of these poems will be to expose the mysterious vulnerability of that authentic person who so often hides behind various familial and societal roles. The poet here posits a crisis, especially for clergy and various leaders of the institutional church in the twenty-first century. We are now entering a postmodern field of debris, in which the fragments of one's identity must be confronted amid the mere artifice of Christendom. ""Scott Kinder-Pyle's collection of poems is a fierce and tender engagement with the world we know, the worlds we yearn for, and the worlds we hesitate to see and to name. With a philosopher's eye and a pastor's heart, he probes the many pieces and identities of a preacher's life, finding wisdom in places none of us thought to look. These are poems to make us ponder, wonder, wrestle, and even laugh--at ourselves, most of all. Kinder-Pyle is the kind of colleague you want alongside you, for the long haul."" --Anna Carter Florence, Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching, Columbia Theological Seminary ""Not everyone can put words together in such a way that a reader's mind is filled with beautiful, sharp imagery. In Scott Kinder-Pyle's There's No I in Debris, we learn of the genuine struggles and hopes of a clergyman. Lay people and faith leaders alike will find themselves relating to and enjoying this poetry."" --Tracy Simmons, Editor, Spokane Faith and Values ""'Existence is a stealthy pathogen, ' a Sasquatch tenders here. Scott Kinder-Pyle's poems are like that--fiercely honest and articulate about frustrations and desolation, about passing indignities and enduring sorrows. But the poems' faithful laments only make their empathy, grace, and humanity all the more trustworthy and powerful."" --Jonathan Johnson, author of May is an Island C. Scott Kinder-Pyle loiters near Spokane, Washington--loving his adventurous spouse, his incorrigible adult children, and his untrainable dogs. He is also known as a teacher of philosophy, literature, and religion courses at Gonzaga and Eastern Washington universities. Originally, however, Scott blended into the crowd of obnoxious Philadelphia sports fans of the 1970s and '80s. Ordained as a minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1988, he continues to serve in that penultimate role as the Titanic lists to the side, and more icebergs loom . . . Alas, nothing satisfies, a condition of the soul which has prompted degrees (of glory) from Princeton Theological Seminary, Columbia Theological Seminary, and finally a Master of Fine Arts from Eastern Washington in 2013.