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 E

Ensō

World Religion
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

In Zen Buddhism, a circle hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create.

Detailed Definition
The Ensō is a quintessential symbol of enlightenment, the universe, and the void. It represents the absolute, formless nature of reality, yet it is manifest in a single, imperfect, and spontaneous form. In poetic terms, the Ensō is the ultimate expression of non-duality—perfect in its imperfection, full in its emptiness. It symbolizes the state of no-mind (mushin) from which all authentic art and poetry arises, where the artist becomes a conduit for the creative force of the universe itself.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Zen poetry, Ensō (the circle) embodies perfection in imperfection: “One brushstroke—Ensō holds the universe”; In contemporary verse, Ensō symbolizes wholeness: “My scars form an Ensō—broken, complete”; In calligraphy-inspired poetry, Ensō is the moment of no-mind: “Pen touches paper—Ensō breathes”; Poets use Ensō to accept paradox: “Open circle—empty, yet full; unfinished, yet whole.”
Additional Notes
Ensō, drawn in one breath, embodies wabi-sabi (imperfect beauty), mu (nothingness), and mushin (no-mind); its openness suggests potential; in poetic practice, ensō inspires spontaneity, acceptance of imperfection, and the unity of artist, tool, and moment—making the act of creation itself a spiritual gesture.
Also Known As
Zen Circle
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