He was educated at Western Washington University with a BA, Hollins College with an MA, Bowling Green State University with an MFA, and the University of Utah with a PhD.He taught at Kansas State University, Westminster College, University of North Texas, Old Dominion University.He is Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at the University of Missouri.

Cairns is the author of six collections of poetry, one collection of translations of Christian mystics, one spiritual memoir, a book-length essay on suffering, and co-edited The Sacred Place with Scott Olsen, an anthology of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. He wrote the libretto for "The Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp," an oratorio composed by JAC Redford. His poems have appeared in journals including The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The New Republic, Image, and Poetry, and have been anthologized in Upholding Mystery (Oxford University Press, 1996), Best Spiritual Writing (Harper Collins, 1998 and 2000), and Best American Spiritual Writing (Houghton Mifflin, 2004, 2005, and 2006).

He is married to Marcia Lane Vanderlip and has two children, Benjamin V. Cairns and Elizabeth V. Cairns-Callen.