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 C

Charleston

Dance
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 fast, exuberant dance of the 1920s, recognised by swinging arms, kicking feet, and syncopated rhythm. In poetry, it evokes youth, rebellion, jazz culture, and modern social freedom.

Detailed Definition
The Charleston became an international emblem of the 1920s, drawing on African American dance traditions and flourishing in jazz clubs, theatres, and popular entertainment. Its energetic kicks, swivels, and syncopation challenged older standards of bodily restraint and respectable behaviour. Poets use the Charleston to evoke modernity, youthful liberation, urban nightlife, and the excitement of cultural change. It may also appear critically, suggesting fashionable excess, racial appropriation, or frantic celebration in the shadow of war, economic instability, and social inequality.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The whole bright decade kicked its heels in a Charleston” makes the dance an emblem of the 1920s; A poet may use the Charleston to suggest youth rebelling against older standards of respectability; “She Charlestoned beneath the chandeliers while the newspapers spoke of ruin” contrasts celebration with anxiety; The dance’s kicks and syncopation can give a poem rapid energy and an atmosphere of jazz-age freedom.
Additional Notes
The Charleston is strongly associated with the 1920s, jazz culture, youth, and changing social freedoms. Its kicks, swivels, and syncopation can give poetic language a rapid, rebellious energy. Writers may use it to celebrate liberation, but also to contrast fashionable gaiety with war memories, economic anxiety, or social inequality. Students should consider the dance’s African American roots as well as its international popularity. Related terms include jazz age, flapper, syncopation, nightclub, modernity, and cultural appropriation.
Also Known As
The Charleston Charleston dance
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