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 D

Deer Woman

Mythology
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 spirit from Plains and Woodlands traditions, appearing as a beautiful woman and a deer simultaneously; she warns against lust, disrespect, and mistreatment of women, punishing those who violate these codes.

Detailed Definition
Deer Woman is a beautiful, hoofed spirit who lures men to their doom if they act with arrogance or sexual impropriety. She teaches respect, humility, and proper conduct. Found in Lakota, Ojibwe, and other traditions, she appears in cautionary tales. Poets reference her to explore themes of desire, consequence, and the sacredness of ethical relationships, often as a feminist symbol of accountability.
Example
Example in poetry:
Deer Woman appears in Plains poetry as the alluring spirit who tests men’s intentions with her beauty; A cautionary verse shows Deer Woman leading the arrogant into thorny thickets of consequence; Poets use Deer Woman to explore consent and respect: “Her hooves leave no trace for those who chase”; In healing poetry, she guides trauma survivors through gentle forests of self-worth; Her eyes become mirrors in verse—revealing truth to those who dare look.
Additional Notes
Deer Woman is a dangerous yet alluring spirit in Plains and Southeastern tribes’ stories, appearing as a beautiful woman with deer hooves who lures men to their doom; she teaches lessons about respect, desire, and boundaries—poets should handle her narrative with care, recognizing her role in moral instruction rather than exoticizing her sexuality.
Also Known As
Fawn Woman
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