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

Comic quintain

Form
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 five-line stanza crafted for comic or satirical effect, often featuring exaggerated diction, incongruous imagery, or punchline-like closure.

Detailed Definition
Comic quintain is a five-line humorous poem, often following an AABBA rhyme scheme akin to the limerick but not strictly bound to its anapestic meter; it uses brevity, punchline structure, and playful language to deliver wit, absurdity, or gentle satire, and serves as a compact vehicle for comedic timing, where the final line typically delivers a twist, surprise, or ironic resolution.
Example
Example in poetry:
A humorous quintain: “My dog ate my homework again— / He’s got a degree in ‘Canine Pen.’ / The teacher just sighed, / ‘That dog’s certified!’ / So now he’s enrolled in the den.”; “There’s a mouse in my pantry, I swear! / He’s typing a novel right there. / He quotes Proust with flair, / Leaves crumbs everywhere— / And demands a comfy armchair.”; “I tried yoga to calm my mind— / Now I’m stuck in a pose, unkind. / My cat takes a pic, / Gives a judgmental flick, / And posts it for all humankind.”
Additional Notes
Comic quintains work best with strong rhythm and a clear setup-punchline structure; the final line should deliver irony, absurdity, or a twist that recontextualizes the whole.
Also Known As
Jocular quintain Amusing five-liner Playful AABBA Whimsical stanza Limerick
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