An Axe for the Frozen Sea: Conversations with Poets about What Matters Most

by Ben Palpant, Scott Cairns (primary_contributor), Malcolm Guite (primary_contributor)

Discover the wisdom and wonder of poetry through candid conversations with some of the most powerful poets of the 21st century.

In this remarkable collection, Ben Palpant, author of Letters from The Mountain, invites readers into intimate, one-on-one interviews with seventeen acclaimed poets. These conversations
• The human experience: Grief, hope, culture, and the imagination.
• The writing life: Insights into the craft of poetry and the challenges of creativity.
• Everyday joys and struggles: Reflections on family life, faith, and the power of words.

As Franz Kafka once said, "A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us." The thoughts and words in this collection aim to awaken what has grown silent within us, reminding us that poetry is an essential expression of what it means to be human.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Christian, Essays, Writing, Christian Living, Anthologies

344 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2025

Reviews

[Matthew Ocenasek]

This book was a treat! Each interview gave me a lot to think about, challenging me to actively choose stillness and beauty over distraction and passivity.

So many of these poets quickly became my friends and mentors as I seek to walk the ancient path of faith during these modern times.

Major takeaways were how each artist delighted in words and how attention to the everyday can lead to deeper and higher insights on the eternal.

Can’t recommend this book enough!

[Scott Bielinski]

All of these poets agree: Great poetry helps us to attend to this world in hope as we wait to see God.

[Anne White]

I had a bit of a slow start with this, felt like a couple of the early interviews seemed a bit forced, but by the end of the book I was fully on board, and the last two (though they were very different from each other) really blew me away. There is some awesome poetry being written these days.

[lucia]

4 stars!! :)

i really enjoyed this — there are some seriously FANTASTIC interviews in here: thought-provoking, mystery-invoking, truth-exploring. there were also some interviews that didn’t light me on fire as much, hence the 4 stars despite some 5 star moments. none of them were bad whatsoever! i would just say that some parts were more accessible to the season i’m in, and some less. my review will probably evolve with time. but i am SOOO glad this book is part of my collection. :)) worth every minute!

[Elizabeth]

A stirring collection about the significance of poetry, the discipline and gift of writing it, and how it helps and heals both its readers and writers. Ben Palpant uniquely captures each poet's care for their craft and heart toward their readers in these fascinating interviews. A pleasure to read.

[S. Brock]

This book was super good. Made me wanna write, made me wanna name all the trees in my yard, made me wanna read some poetry (ordered Idiot Psalms mid-read), made me wanna read some poetry out loud (I have sent Staying Power to Liz and read it to Taylor, Jacob and Marty).
I originally listened to this and am reading it again now that my copy arrived.
What to say about it? I love hearing people say beautiful things, overflowing from big love for God, all in humility. I think I was most struck by the idea that the poet writes not from a place of arrival, but from a place of wrestling, not just trying to show the reader something, but trying to figure out that very thing for themselves. He is the Mountain.

[Jeremy]

Good, not great. Every chapter tries to be deep, and it feels like eating 17 Boston cream donuts in one sitting. I think I saw the phrase "pregnant with meaning" at least 3 times. To be fair, this book is not meant to be read fast, which I did.

This book is not strictly a transcription of recordings but rather a poetic work of creative non-fiction. Poetry helps us see better, pay attention better, and this makes us more human. Each section begins with an epigraph from the interview and concludes with a poem by that poet. Palpant asks many of the poets to finish the phrase, "Dear Poet...."

The title comes from Kafka: "A book must be an axe for the frozen sea within us."
Dedicated to "To all the poets" (xvii: but for non-poets too)

Preface
Palpant spent an hour with 17 or so poets in 2024. The sections are arranged alphabetically by poets' last names.

Scott Cairns
etymological hauntings in English words
don't aim to crack the code of a poem and replace it with a paraphrase
much of life is practical, but poetry requires a taste for uncertainty
Cairns is Orthodox

Robert Cording
Grief (loss of a son to an accidental drug overdose) and love
References to Epicurus, Hopkins, Herbert (his favorite), Peterson, and Frost

Dana Gioia
learning nature and choosing solitude
Gioia is Catholic

Malcolm Guite
hope and joy
first name is Ayodeji (second joy—dramatic birth story)
against theory
YouTube channel
loves Coleridge
writing a 12-book Arthuriad

Karen An-hwei Lee
kintsugi
Wheaton prof
Dickinson and Pieper

Li-Young Lee
stillness and motion
grief, not grievance

Maurice Manning
good and bad fences

Paul Mariani
Mariani is Catholic
English major; studied under Mandelbaum
professor; published biographies and critical studies of poets
loves Hopkins

Marilyn Nelson
Black, Lutheran
gratitude

Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
Dante and O'Connor
Catholic
professor
Faulkner: kill your darlings
intention doesn't absolutely determine interpretation
true vs. false myth-making

Tania Runyan
MFA
gratitude

Luci Shaw
95!
Shaw (conservative) was friends with Madeleine L'Engle (liberal)

Ryan Whitaker Smith
rendering Psalms and Proverbs
Donne/Herbert

Jeanne Murray Walker
learn craft/patience; don't wait for inspiration
importance of form
Wheaton undergrad; PhD from UPenn
avoid literary theory

Jennifer Wallace?
mentioned on p. 234, but doesn't appear as a chapter in the book

Jeremiah Webster
George Steiner described the favoring of poetic form as nostalgia for the absolute.
MFA
poetry can help us bear grief

Mischa Willett
edited and edition of Festus
Kafka quotation about "an axe for the frozen sea"
dropped out of Wheaton, then returned
counter to Frost's quip about free verse (playing tennis with the net down)—abstract art or jazz

James Matthew Wilson
form matters
it's okay to think literature is beautiful (don't let academics stifle a love of words/stories)
Pieper's Leisure
Tolkien and sub-creation

[Donovan]

Some of these were really great! Insightful, thought-provoking, etc—really make me reflect. That said, a solid half of these felt like Palpant was a freshman English major trying way too hard to sound deep and philosophical. Made those topics feel forced or artificial.

Overall, I liked it a lot! But didn’t love it.

[Mariah Dawn]

This is a collection of interviews with poets. It was interesting to hear the wide variety of reasons for why they write. I particularly enjoyed what they had to say about free verse.

[Emily Boulter]

Beautiful. Timely. Needed. One I’ll be coming back to again and again.

[Hadleigh Gleeson]

Really enjoyed this! will definitely be keeping this one close by to reread and underline some more!

“That’s the thing: the news is Christ. It’s all Christ. There’s no other name, no other word for it. All of creation is shouting the news. That tree over there is Christic; that fountain is Christic. Every one of us is in the wake of the good news that it is finished. The world is changed. No, it’s bigger than that, something much bigger. Everything has changed.” -Li-Young Lee

“Gratitude is part of the price you pay for existence. It’s not hard, but it’s terribly important.” -Marilyn Nelson

[Jonathan Owen]

The most enjoyable and profound work I’ve read this year. Interviewing Christian poets on their thoughts pertaining to Art, creativity, and obviously poetry really uncovers an incredible wealth of profound truths. Each poet brings a unique perspective.

I really loved the format of this book. They are interviews, but not formatted in a lifeless back-and-forth that many other interviews are written. It is much more conversational and flows so well. And each chapter ends with a poem by the poet. Just finishing this book I now have a year subscription to the poetry, foundation magazine, and about five more books of poetry on my shelf that this book turned me onto.

I have the privilege of meeting Ben Palpant this past weekend (as well as a handful of the poets in this book) and he was such an incredibly warm and gracious person.

Even if poetry does not seem to be your thing, I would not let that sway you from reading this book. I highly recommend finding your favorite coffee shop and sitting down with one poet at a time. there’s much truth and beauty to be found.

[Garrett Moore]

Loved it.

[Angela]

There’s a lot to chew on in these interviews. And I discovered a few new writers! I’m sure I’ll return to this book many times over the years for inspiration and companionship.

[Mitch Aldridge]

What a remarkable book. Palpant’s writing makes you feel like you’re in the room with these poets. It made me want to write, and that’s my favorite kind of book.

[Brielle]

This was one of those books that drew me in and felt like soul food. Also, what a gift to get to listen in to conversations with some of these legends!!

[Darlene Nichols]

This inside view of what inspires the poets in the book was fascinating. The care and consideration for the reader’s ability to read and understand were especially interesting to me. It is a gift to be able to put beautiful words to faith, and many of the poets in the book do just that. I now have a good list of modern (and older) poets to explore and read.

[Cameron Brooks]

I'm grateful to Ben Palpant for taking on this project. These interviews offer a wealth of diverse insights on writing, culture, imagination, faith, and poetry, of course.

Given the range of poets and topics, I found some conversations more engaging than others. At times Palpant's questions felt forced or leading. A brief biographical sketch of each poet would have also been appreciated.

Still, the chapter with Li-Young Lee alone was worth the price of admission for me; I will be re-reading that. Other favorites include: Cairns, Gioia, An-Kwei Lee, O'Donnell, Walker, Wilson.

[Concerning Nonsense]

A well written accumulation of the poetic form through the eyes of a poet speaking to poets but bogged down by lackluster observations of the poet masters who have come before.

[Marshall Cunningham]

DISCLAIMER: This book was sent to me ahead of time by Rabbit Room Press, but all thoughts, opinions, and ratings are my own.

***

I wish I had this book four years ago.

Back in college, I wrote my Honors Capstone Thesis over the landscape of Christian Fiction and how desperately it needed to change. I struggled to find voices who felt the same as I did. Of course, I depended on Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald, O'Connor, Chesterton, and the likes of these classic, Christian writers, but where were those in *my* day? The ones on the frontlines that I so desperately wanted to read?

Getting interviewed by Ben Palpant, apparently. And thank the Lord for that.

This book should be a manual for all Christian writers, poet or not. Here Palpant gives us a guide to the best-of-the-best, a glimpse into those leading the charge of creating true, joyous, and deliberate work for our God. My copy is a mess of scribbled underlines and scrawled Amens littering the margins. These poets poured out words my heart has thirsted for. Talks of letting the Holy Spirit become your Muse, writing in a post "it-is-finished" world, opening yourself to God's calling for your place and position as a poet, all of it fed me, made me thankful for the gift of poetry and hastened my fingers to start typing lines in the same breath.

I appreciate the emphasis on labeling these talks as "conversations" and not mere "interviews." Because of this, we see what lies on the minds of these poets, what harbors in their hearts as people. We need such clear windows. I, for one, desire that closeness. We've no longer the opportunity to see into the souls of our legends; however, we still have time to learn from the legends in the making. How much more could we have gleaned from the greats like Lewis or Tolkien had Palpant been there? Based on his work here, I reckon more than we thought possible. He pulls on the smallest thread of connection and unweaves the entire tapestry. The small asks, the "what was your mother like?" or "tell me about this land," brings the people behind the poems to life. I see their loves, their fears, their humanity. I see those who've accomplish what I hope to one day on a level of tangibility, not a pedestal of unreachable fame. I thus grew through this reading. I took another step deeper into the world of Christian creativity.

The Axe wielded by Palpant (and the seventeen poets) has cut into the Frozen Sea that, for far too long, has iced over the world of Christian fiction, poetics, creation, and imagination. Chop by chop, conversation by conversation, the ice begins to clear. Writing again becomes a gift from our Lord. Poetry rises beyond the faux spirituality of today. For too long Christian creativity has stayed stagnant; but with Palpant, these poets, and those inspired by their words of encouragement, a new fire will burn in the hearts of those willing to take up first a prayer, then a pen.

[Audrey Bartosh]

I am probably not the target audience of this book, as I am not really into poetry honestly (and I'm still somewhat mystified by what prompted me to pick up this book). As someone who has more of a philosophical/analytical/dare-I-say-rationalist background, I found a lot of the interviews really challenging in the sense that I think poets, well, think very differently from me (no surprise!), but it was a good sort of challenge that forced me to expand my horizons and think seriously about a different and perhaps more transcendent way of looking at the world, which is probably healthy for me. Not too surprisingly, the last interview was my favorite, because I understood him the best ha! I imagine I'll be mulling over parts of the wisdom in this book for a while (and I do think there is a lot of it), and for that reason alone, it's a good read. There's a lot in the book to unpack.

Why four stars instead of five? I tend to reserve 5 stars for books I would unreservedly recommend to anyone, and truthfully, I think there are a lot of people who wouldn't appreciate or get much out of this book. I think you have to have the right mindset to enjoy it. I also thought some of the interviews were fairly repetitive. Seventeen interviews with poets (the back blurb says 18 but it is only 17) is a lot, and to be honest, I think you could have strategically stripped away five or six of them and the book would have seemed less daunting. But overall, I still enjoyed it and would generally recommend it to the right type of reader. At least now I have the names of some poets to research if I want to dig more into the subject. Luci Shaw had been the only one I had heard of before.

(As a side note, I find it interesting that so many of the poets were old and still mentally sharp even into their old age. I suspect this tracks well with their profession. There is some research as I understand it showing that the brain has to work harder at reading and writing poetry than it does with any other type of written word, which isn't that surprising when you think about it too much.)

[F.J. Akkerman]

Top tier. Poets who are Christians will thoroughly enjoy this book of interviews by Ben Palpant of 17 established poets (who are also Christians).

These people are deep thinkers and solid communicators; no academic snobbery, no airy-fairy fluff and abstractness, no "misunderstood genius" complex. Their conversations are full of wisdom, wit, buoyancy, and encouragement. All of it will enrich your understanding of what poetry strives to bring the world, and what it means to be a sub-creator in the Creator's design.

"We should be cognizant that writing poems isn’t about saying what you think you know; it’s really about constructing a scene of meaning-making – a field into which a reader can enter and make meaning with the poet."
– Scott Cairns


“Every act of writing is also
a failure to say what we most want to say,
but it is an attempt."
– Robert Cording


"I think that a daily Instagram post about your deep thoughts doesn’t seem like a good use of your deep thoughts."
– Scott Cairns

To be fair, some of the interviews were a bit clunky or truncated (I got the impression Ben Palpant was finding his way as an interviewer), but he did the work and brought us something we wouldn't otherwise have – appreciated!

Plenty of insights, plenty of underlined quotes. I liked the varied perspectives. Also there was just a lot of joy and humour and warmth in these conversations. And to crown off each interview, a poem is included (by the poet interviewed) – I relished arriving at these and savouring them slowly.

This may be niche, but if you're a Christian poet, it's the perfect book to make you feel less alone, exercise your thinking about the why and what of poetry (and art overall), and get a refreshing glimpse into the minds of people with a similar value for wordcraft as well as for Christ.

[Unbridled Reader]

As a member of the Rabbit Room, a creative collective, https://www.rabbitroom.com/ I heard about this book. It is a collection of interviews between Ben Palpant and various contemporary poets. The only thing these poets have in common are their faith. Each is a Christ follower, but from various backgrounds: Episcopalian, Catholic, Protestant, Non-Denom. The aim of their poetry is, ultimately, to unveil the beauty and the grace and the mercy and the love that only comes through God and is revealed to us today through the Holy Spirit. What I LOVE about these poets (and the Rabbit Room collective) is that nothing is ever preached. Instead the words shared, the art and music developed is born organically out of a need for connection. And as Christians, the ultimate connection is to God.

I read this book every morning as part of my daily devotional. It also qualifies as part of my 'year of poetry', a project or initiative I've embarked upon in 2025 to read poetry every day. What I loved about this book was that Palpant dug into the why behind each specific poet. Why do they use the form they do, why the subject matter, and also what motivates them. Then at the end of the chapter, he shares one of their poems.

I was sad when I finished reading this book. It is a title I will hold onto and revisit. If you are even remotely interested in poetry, I HIGHLY recommend this as a good 'starter' book.

[Christian Hamaker]

Lent to me by a friend who thought he remembered me mentioning one of the poets interviewed in the collection. I have no memory of mentioning that poet - I barely knew his name - but the friend's gesture was a kind providence, as this book ignited something within me - the thing that makes me, from time to time, think that someday I should dive more fully into poetry.

I can't remember any collection of poems that has thrilled me as much as some of these interviews did. It's an inspirational read, enriching and encouraging, a prompt to explore the works of these poets more deeply - or to revisit the poetry I've enjoyed in recent years.

I finished this collection two days into National Poetry Month. What will I do for the next 28 days - and for the 11 months that follow - to build on what I've read here? For now, I'm determined simply to track down a couple of Library of America poetry collections I purchased several years ago. They're smaller volumes that, I realize, I must have filed away in places where larger books are obscuring their spines. I can't visually pinpoint where those books might be among my many bookcases. But I'll track those collections down. I'll find them. It's the least I can do in the coming days. Maybe it'll carry over to the coming months, even years.

[Sarah]

I took my time reading this collection of conversations with poets because I wanted to savor the wisdom from these greats. I had heard of or read the poems of half of the Christian poets in this collection, and I was delighted to explore the other Christian poets I didn’t know. Palpant’s format for the book is stellar, and I loved how he placed poems at the ending of each conversation's chapter. His questions to the poets were insightful about their life and faith perspectives, their poetic theories, and their goals with their works. I highly, highly recommend this book to poets or poetry readers who want to know more about the craft and the art of poetry’s purpose, enjoyment, or meaning.

I plan to reread Palpant’s collection and learn more about how to write my poetry with more richness and life, to break my axe through my own personal frozen sea.

[Teresa]

Poets are an odd bunch, aren't they? Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall as two christian poets discuss why they do what they do, philosophy, Christianity, life experience, and the imagination? No? Just me? Well, this book scratched that itch.
On top of that, it also introduced me to several poets I had no familiarity with and provided a plethora of bunny trails to explore as I try to appreciate these glorious weirdos just a little bit better. Each interview ends with a poem by the poet being interviewed. Jeanne Murray Walker's "Staying Power" and Tania Runyan's "Mary at the Nativity" were my favorites.
Fun book!

[Daniel Mcgregor]

I did not think I would enjoy this book as much as I actually did. Collected interviews on a single subject can feel unfocused and range widely in quality. And though the chapters to vary I did not feel that any of them were bad or poor discussions of the subject. Dana Gioia's and Malcolm Guite's chapters were particularly good and all of them said something important. This will be reread in time, they are just that good.

[A. Johnson]

A series of interviews with ports of the (Christian) world— but whose poetry mostly speaks to human conditions.

Great interviewer. Well prepared. We all have poets who speak to us, so some appealed to me more than others.

Not a book to read unless you read a few of the subjects interviewed, though. Its appeal is that narrow.

I have a working theory that if you read a book, you learn a person. Same about poetry and the theory is holding up.

[Jennie]

I loved this book. Poetry has always been a bit of an enigma in my mind, and these interviews were so insightful. These poets addressed all sorts of ideas: from why poetry exists, the good it does in the world, and how different poets write…and view their writing and its purpose and meaning in the 21st century, to why poetry is worth reading (not just literature…poetry).
It’s left me with a lot to think about. Highly recommend

[Meredith]

The collection of poems, I mostly appreciate. Also the insights of some of the poets made me think and touched my heart.

Unfortunately, I felt annoyed by the author, his questions, his inserting ideas in the hopes of creating conversation. It grated. Perhaps it was the chosenness of it all. These are all Christians, which is sometimes beautiful, but at others just the club triggering all my old trauma.

Perhaps it is a me problem.