A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter B

barnacle

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A mythical bird once believed to develop from goose barnacles; also, a clinging or parasitic person.

Detailed Definition
In medieval bestiaries and poetry, the barnacle goose myth symbolized transformation and divine mystery. Poets referenced it to explore themes of origin, metamorphosis, or faith in the unseen. Later, “barnacle” became a metaphor for hangers-on, adding a satirical edge in social verse. Its dual natural/mythical identity makes it rich for allegorical or ecological poetics.
Example
Example in poetry:
The barnacle clings where greater ships dare not sail; Like barnacles on truth, old myths persist; He’s a barnacle on fortune’s hull, sucking hope; From barnacle to goose, the fable flies on faith
Additional Notes
“Barnacle” in medieval lore referred to the barnacle goose, believed to grow from goose barnacles on driftwood—a myth symbolizing spontaneous generation and divine mystery. Poets referenced it to explore transformation, faith in the unseen, or the blending of natural and supernatural. Later, it became a metaphor for hangers-on, adding satirical edge. Its dual identity—natural object and mythical bird—makes it rich for ecological or allegorical poetics. Related terms include “goose,” “crustacean,” and “parasite,” but the archaic mythological sense is key in pre-Enlightenment verse.
Also Known As
barnacle goose spectacles
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