In this collection of conversations, Ben Palpant, author of Letters From The Mountain, has compiled his intimate, one-on-one interviews with seventeen powerful poets of the 21st century. These conversations cover an entire range of life experience, including grief, hope, culture, the writing craft, family life, and the imagination. Each poet speaks with remarkable candor and joy. Taken together, these interviews are a powerful reminder that poetry remains an essential expression of what it means to be human. Franz Kafka famously said that "a book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us." And the words and thoughts contained here aim to wake up much that has become silent in each of us. They contain wisdom that may inspire, instruct, and strengthen, confronting us with the reality that words matter, that poetry matters, and that we matter.
About the author:
Ben Palpant is a memoirist, a poet, and a storyteller. He grew up in Kenya, Africa, where he played barefooted with his friends while perfecting the art of daydreaming. When his family returned to the United States, he continued his reveries throughout adolescence and now daydreams and calls it part of the writing process. He graduated from Whitworth University and has spent over 25 years in education. His most recent book is Letters from the Mountain, a meditation on the craft of writing.
