Robert M. Petersen: Pecker Poles – Rare Authorized Chapbook (Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus, 2015)

Compiled and typed by Petersen himself in 1972 but never printed during his lifetime, Pecker Poles brings together some of his finest and most searching poems, suffused with the naturalist imagery that flows through his beloved lyrics for the Grateful Dead — most notably "New Potato Caboose" and "Unbroken Chain." The title draws on a logger's term for commercially worthless second-growth timber; Petersen transforms it into a searing metaphor for the environmental devastation he witnessed in the Pacific Northwest and the broader cultural unraveling of early 1970s America. Authorized by Petersen's son Didrik and produced by the Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus to commemorate the first academic conference paper ever devoted to Petersen's work, this chapbook presents his original typed text alongside prefatory matter by scholar Nicholas G. Meriwether. Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus, 2015. Octavo. Saddle-stapled, 20 pp. Only a handful of copies survive.

Details: Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus, 2015. Octavo. Saddle-stapled, 20 pp.