Bean's Reads: An Axe for the Frozen Sea by Ben Palpant

Welcome to Bean's Reads! This is a new edition to our site where members of our staff review the latest books we think could benefit our community. The first title in this new series is An Axe for the Frozen Sea by Ben Palpant. We were graciously sent an early copy by

Rabbit Room Press for review. However, all ratings, comments, and thoughts about the book are our own. An Axe for the Frozen Sea is a series of conversations with seventeen modern poets of faith. Palpant digs into their pasts, their presents, their poems, and what makes them tick as a people. To quote the book's description, "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." Below is my review of this book. I hope you enjoy, and if you're interesting in purchasing a copy of An Axe for the Frozen Sea, we have copies in stock, along with Ben Palpant's other work and many other books published by The Rabbit Room. *** 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.

Written by Marshall Cunningham on March 4th, 2025