Writing – Jericho Brisance

Tempus Fugit

July 4, 2022 by Matt 4 Comments

As part of our relocation to the Boston area, we bought an old Victorian style house that was built in 1900. It has been a learning experience, because houses of that age have entire histories of construction, renovation, upkeep, and decline.

The fireplace in the living room has old tilework around it, which is original to the house. During prior renovations, the line of previous owners thankfully left this unique bit unchanged. At the top center of the tilework are winged cherubs holding a banner that reads, tempus fugit.

We looked up this phrase with the help of Google, and we found that it is translated as “time flies.” It originates with Virgil, in his Georgics, as tempus inreparabile fugit, or “it escapes, irretrievable time.” Wikipedia has an entire page for this phrase (link).

[Read more…]

Filed Under: History, Writing Tagged With: Boston, Victorian home

Southern Lilt of Greeting, and Farewell

January 6, 2016 by Matt Leave a Comment

The hour of loss and final partings

Gone in whiff, the hymnal drowns

While my ears still hear in beatings

Her southern lilt of greeting sounds

We lose in loss, good Wordsworth chimes

Of splendor, grass, and death through-seeing

Yet echoes throb our muffled cries

As waters soothe the haunt of being

~ A poem of cognac and mourning.

I can hear her still, and she makes me smile.

Filed Under: Writing

Thanks to Mr. Hanks. Admiration for Mr. Olivetti.

December 20, 2015 by Matt 14 Comments

I realized that Microsoft Word might amount to a liability. Editing as you go can stall forward momentum. More troubling still, the late great Gore Vidal said he could always tell whether a book had been written on a word processor. He didn’t mean it as a compliment. But what to do? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Other, Writing Tagged With: Cormac McCarthy, Etsy, Gore Vidal, Olivetti Lettera, Tom Hanks, Typewriter, Vintage

This Year, I’m Thankful for Stephen King

November 29, 2015 by Matt 6 Comments

During my years of martial arts obsession, I learned an old Chinese proverb about kung fu. The student’s understanding evolves in three stages.

Before I knew kung fu, a punch was just a punch, and a kick was just a kick.

As I learned kung fu, a punch was no longer just a punch, and a kick was no longer just a kick.

Now that I know kung fu, a punch is just a punch, and a kick is just a kick.

Over the past year, I have spent my spare moments learning the craft of writing long fiction. Put me in kung fu category #2 where fiction writing is concerned. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, Novel, Olivetti, On Writing, Stephen King