Each poem in this book holds captivating pieces of imagery. Nature fed and spirit filled, Janaka Stagnaro allows the reader spiritual sustenance in a mystical space. Stagnaro’s poetry is one of guidance and insights, mixed with an element of whimsy and truths. I found myself pausing and reflecting after each piece. In addition to the poems, Stagnaro’s shadow and light sketches are dotted throughout gently complimenting the mediative prose. This collection of work is timeless, needed and healing. ~ Carolyn M. Riker, author of Blue Clouds
Reading Janaka Stagnaro's poetry, coupled with his beautiful dream-like art, is an exercise in meditation. Each piece in Thoughts Across the I takes you exactly where your mind needs to be. --Samantha Lazar, author of Reaching Marrakesh.
There is a softness in these poems, a warmth of imagination and of dreams and presences. This is a book of nature poems and spirit poems that celebrate a richness and an intimacy with the natural world and the cycles of seasons. As well, intimacy with the movements of our inner lives.
The beautiful soft swirling illustrations, often of lone and pristine outdoor wanderings, add to the enveloping moods of the poems.
Janaka is a Waldorf teacher, a lived philosophy of schooling that honors the sanctity of childhood, and his poems and drawings give us this taste of sanctity, pointing to a remembered magic that feels just beyond the periphery.
--Stanton Hunter, artist, art professor, author of The Astounding Nature of Experience: Conversations with Peter Brown