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

Down to earth

Idiomatic Phrase
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

Practical, realistic, and unpretentious in attitude or behavior.

Detailed Definition
This gravitational metaphor praises groundedness amid abstraction or vanity. In poetry, it often describes wise elders, humble lovers, or resilient common folk who embody authenticity. Poets use it to contrast sincerity with artifice, especially in satires of elitism or celebrations of rural life. Its elemental imagery (earth as source and anchor) aligns with pastoral and ecological themes, making it a quiet counterpoint to flights of fancy in verses that honor simplicity, labor, and connection to soil and season.
Example
Example in poetry:
Wisdom figure: “Grandpa’s down to earth—plants beans, tells truths, no fancy words”; Celebrity contrast: “Famous poet down to earth, signs books in library, takes bus home”; Grounded love: “You’re down to earth—hold my panic attacks, discuss compost, skip galas”; Student ideal: “Be down to earth like Whitman—celebrate dirt, democracy, and daily bread.”
Additional Notes
This gravitational metaphor praises groundedness amid abstraction or vanity. In poetry, it describes wise elders, humble lovers, or resilient common folk who embody authenticity. Its elemental imagery (earth as source) aligns with pastoral and ecological themes. Students should distinguish it from “simple-minded”; this implies wisdom, not ignorance. Related phrases include “salt of the earth” and “feet on the ground.” In anti-elitist verse, it champions ordinary virtue; in love poetry, it values sincerity over grandeur. Effective when paired with specific actions: “Down to earth—plants beans, tells truths, no fancy words.”
Also Known As
Down-to-earth Practical
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