Love and Catastrophe

“Throughout the breadth of fine description in these poems, the theme of love persists. It’s more than a theme; it is the actual rhythm and breath of the poems and the reading of them. In ‘Vigil,’ James Janko names love as the voice of flowers, and in a powerful and wise ending to ‘Settling My Estate (California, 2021),’ he asks “Is love ever squandered? I don’t know, I don’t know. But it’s all we have while we breathe.

This book of poetry is an emancipation to read. The lines are underpinned with awareness of the purity of love, despite the incredible diversity of its objects. James Janko helps us feel how love is inclusion of everything and that our existence includes all that we cannot touch. As he writes in “Equations” at the end of this wonderful book, 

Love brings more love,

silence more song.”

—Beth Jacobs, PhD, author of Long Shadows of Practice and A Buddhist Journal

​“James Janko weaves metaphor and imagery into a poetry that sings both joyous and sad songs but insists on reminding the reader of the spiritual, life-affirming connection between our “selves”, the things we touch, and the world around us. For Janko the wind and sea are as one with the human heart and soul.”

—Albert DeGenova, poet and publisher, Executive director of Write On, Door County

“Much like the process of the archetypal hermit, James Janko’s poetry encourages us to descend the often damp, dark stairs of human reasoning. When we reach the bottom, he gently guides us into a private and sacred holding space, where we learn to honor the deepest parts of ourselves, and in turn, learn to rise and illuminate a shining path of compassion for the world to traverse.”

—Standing Feather, author of The Glowing Pink