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

block

Nautical
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 pulley or sheave enclosed in a wooden or metal frame, used to change direction of a rope.

Detailed Definition
The block is the humble, ubiquitous pulley that makes the intricate dance of rigging possible. In poetry, it represents the turning point, the redirection of energy, and the small, silent components that enable large systems to function. Its round sheave suggests circularity, cycles, and the smooth transition of force from one line to another. Poets often use blocks to discuss the hidden pivots of life—the unnoticed occasions where a change of direction occurs. The block's worn surfaces and occasional jamming also serve as metaphors for friction, age, and the necessity of maintenance in any sustainable endeavor.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Block upon block lying scattered and free, what is there left of my town by the sea?” (Robert Louis Stevenson, Block City).; “In the harbor passive, just where green water calmly sleeps, set in the column, strong and massive, appeared navy’s silent ships” (Aleksandr Blok).; The block and tackle in sea poetry represents the mechanical amplification of human effort.; A poet might use the block to symbolize the small, overlooked components that enable great voyages.; The creaking block becomes a rhythmic sound in poems about the labor of sailing.; Block and tackle imagery suggests that even the weakest can achieve great things through proper leverage.
Additional Notes
The block, a simple pulley enclosed in a frame, is the unsung hero of nautical machinery, transforming brute force into manageable effort. In poetry, it represents the hidden mechanics of progress, the small, often overlooked components that enable large systems to function smoothly. Its round sheave suggests cycles, redirection, and the elegant translation of energy from one line to another. Poets can use the block as a metaphor for pivots in life—the subtle turning points where direction changes without the need for dramatic upheaval. The block's worn surfaces and occasional jamming also offer rich imagery for friction, age, and the necessity of maintenance. Its prevalence throughout the rigging system makes it a symbol of distributed functionality, where no single part bears the entire burden, much like a well-functioning community or internal psyche.
Also Known As
Pulley sheave tackle block snatch block blockhead
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