In FROM's offices, someone, at an unspecified point in time, decided that the game would keep track of the Poise stat... but not actually implement it in any way at all.
Enemies do have poise, though. And, oh boy, some of them have a lot of it...
You can literally go around in full Havel's and still get stunlocked as if you were wearing absolutely nothing. It boggles the mind how this is even possible. Especially after DS2 added a half-step between staggered and non-staggered with a quick slowdown to your actions.
Enemies do have poise, though. And, oh boy, some of them have a lot of it...