background image

Significato Journal
 
Subscribe to our FREE E-Newsletter!
Become a Significato Micro-Patron!
 
Subscribe to RSS
Updated: May 13, 2013
 
I Hummed a Bee Sonnet
While Floating Through the Currant Forest

This wonderful shot of a bee was taken by Leslie Stager. She is a freelance nature photographer/videographer, a silk painter, and a Perinatal Massage Instructor and Author.

She said about taking this photo: "One day I flew on the back of a bee into the currant bush to learn what the bee sees. I buried my nose in flower stamens and rubbed pollen over my legs. I hummed a bee sonnet while floating through the currant forest. I've never been the same since."

Visit Leslie's web page or her new website that will be live this summer: EarthReveries.com.

[ Submit a Front Page Image ]

Columns & Essays

Compassionate Communication
Some of my biggest experiences of heartbreak have come from problems with communication. When this happened to me, I felt angry, sad, and hurt, and yearned for a connection that seemed to elude me.
No More Boring Photos!
~ Learn to See ~
Don't let your eyes restrict you to what you see. Allow your mind to direct your creation - turning a snapshot into a work of art conveying a vision true to yourself.
Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection Shine with Good Fun
Venue: One Longfellow Square, Portland, ME ~ February 1, 2013 ~
I could feel the love coming from the packed house of bluegrass fans, as well as from music students and their families in attendance. Erica and two of her band-mates, Steve Roy and Matt Shipman, teach music lessons at The 317 Main Community Music Center in Yarmouth.
Eilen Jewell Knocked My Socks Off!
Venue: One Longfellow Square ~ Portland, ME January 10, 2013 ~
...sorta like a Buddhist monk gone cowgirl -- the songs spiraling into the night, like prayer beads from a sagebrush mala. I was riveted and enthralled.
The First Boy I Loved
I saved my allowance money to buy him special gifts for Christmas. I got him cool things that I thought he would appreciate. Once it was a rubber chicken; another time it was plastic vomit.
The Woods Were Alive With Bogey
~ This column was written in 2011. It seems a fitting eulogy after writing about Vinny in our last newsletter ~
When I tried to catalogue what it was that I loved about him, I found that I couldn’t name it exactly, but I began to summon him in my heart from across the unnamed worlds of the universe. An uncanny mood emanated from the woods, and I noticed that the trees were the same color as Bogey.
Winterbloom, Fragrant and Fair
Venue: One Longfellow Square Portland, ME ~ December 13, 2012 ~
From their opening notes, and their body language, I could see they have unique musical styles that are joined together with love and humility to create the miracle of Winterbloom. Where should I begin? First, each one of them is beautiful.
Lucy Kaplansky
Shares Big Heart and Great Songs
Venue: One Longfellow Square, Portland ME ~ December 8, 2012 ~
I realized that her songs are not “one time listens”. They are poetry, and they contain messages within messages, like Matryoshka Russian Dolls.
Photography:
A Way of Seeing or Recording ‘A Moment’
We are all photographers – any of us who have picked up a camera, and snapped a photograph. Why do we do it? Often, to capture the moment.
Rachel Ries, Sweet Opening for Anais Mitchell
Venue: One Longfellow Square, Portland ME ~ November 30, 2012 ~
She had an atmosphere of purity that evoked a feeling of the prairie grass and the plains, the bitter winters and broad summer sun. She shone as she spoke and sang, and looked trustworthy.
Outstanding Performance
by Anais Mitchell and the Young Man Band
Venue: One Longfellow Square, Portland, ME ~ November 30, 2012 ~
It astounds me how some folks that are tiny in stature can have such immense presence. Ms. Mitchell is a petite little fireball, confident as Annie Oakley, taking aim with her guitar.
Jim Carr Creates Lovely Album
with "The Space Below"
CD Review
This is an album to listen to with a glass of wine in front of a warm fire, or as background music for a gathering of close friends.
Missing Vinny
So, we are grieving. I am experiencing the grieving process as a hungry gnaw emanating from my cat heart gland. There is something innately comforting about cat presence. To paraphrase something Joni Mitchell once said, “cats are the heartbeat of the house”.

A Parliament of Quotes

Dr. Albert Schweitzer's Humanitarian Attitude
"A man is ethical only when life is sacred to him, that of animals as well as that of his fellow man..." more
 

Mo' Bliss


Dorothy Maclean - I Am Deep Within You

“I am with you wherever you are, deep within you. As you turn to me, wherever you are, I answer your call..."

They Made Merry the Livelong Day

"She was again among her old friends the flying-fish, interesting denizens of the sea. Shooting out of the waves like arrows, and with outstretched wings,..."

The Transcendence
of Pom's Thai General Tso’s Chicken

Eating Pom's Thai General chicken was an Event. In fact, it was a "Remember my mother's gourmet cooking and exclaiming event," where we would close our eyes and murmur, "Oh, my, that’s good."

It was not only delicious, it was different. I learned that day, with all due respect to the bolder, more hearty taste of Chinese General Tso’s chicken, that I actually preferred the more sophisticated and delicate taste of Pom’s Thai General chicken.

 

Help the World


Portland Maine Reduces Food Waste in a Common Sense Way!

Both of these services are the wave of the future. Food will be composted and returned to the earth the way nature intended!

Saving Horses from PMU, Slaughter and Horsemeat

"Premarin is created by collecting the urine of pregnant mares. The mares are kept in small standing stalls in order to limit their movement, so [as] not to displace the urinary bladder bags used to collect every drop of urine. The mares are kept in this manner for a lengthy portion of their pregnancy, normally about six months."

"Call of the Trees" by Dorothy Maclean

"The angels not only taught me the value of linking with nature but also continually reminded me of the truth of our own essence."

 

Stories & Poetry


Unglooming the Gloam

Leaden sky Absorbs the light. Wambling through the bamboo grove I enter into the gloaming...

Waking Up Dead and Confused
is a Terrible Thing

~ a short story (4,239 words) that will one day become a short movie, starring the author ~
Hiram Hazlacker's last living memory was the sight of the Revenue Men coming down the path to his cave. Hiram called it his Whiskey Cave, even though it was just a bunch of rocks that he’d thrown together to hide his still. The woods of Northern Maine didn’t have too many caves, so a body had to make do with what was handy.

Sunrise on the Hills

The clouds were far beneath me; bathed in light, They gathered mid-way round the wooded height,
And, in their fading glory, shone
Like hosts in battle overthrown.
As many a pinnacle, with shifting glance.
Through the gray mist thrust up its shattered lance...

 

From the Editors

Kim & Peter Brown

We are still actively looking for volunteer contributing editors and writers to help build the Significato Journal to its next stage. Contact us for more info if you think you would like to write something about nectar for the soul.

What's New

Portland Maine Reduces Food Waste in a Common Sense Way!
Dorothy Maclean - I Am Deep Within You
Dr. Albert Schweitzer's Humanitarian Attitude
They Made Merry the Livelong Day
I Hummed a Bee Sonnet
While Floating Through the Currant Forest
Compassionate Communication
Unglooming the Gloam
No More Boring Photos!
The Smallest Feline is a Masterpiece
The True Human
Can Tune to the Voice of the River
 
logo
Feel good about life
and feed your soul some vittles...
from the columns and essays of Significato.
 
Transport your soul...
by curling up with a short story or poem.
 
Increase your bliss and nourish your soul...
with tidbits on nature, music, books, films, health and writings from bygone days.
 
Feel good about life by helping the world...
 
Programming
 
Newsletter
 
Advertise