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 F

Flycatcher

Birds
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 small insectivorous bird known for its aerial acrobatics and sharp calls.

Detailed Definition
Flycatchers symbolize alertness, precision, and the ephemeral in poetry. Their darting flights and sudden stillness mirror the poet’s attention to fleeting moments or elusive truths. Species like the phoebe or kingbird carry regional resonance, grounding poems in specific habitats. Poets use flycatchers to explore themes of perception, the hunt for meaning, and the delicate balance between action and observation in both nature and human consciousness.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Robert Frost’s woodland poems, the flycatcher’s darting flight illustrates the suddenness of insight or decision; The phoebe’s repetitive call (“fee-bee”) appears in spring poetry as a herald of seasonal return and nesting; Poets use the flycatcher’s aerial acrobatics to symbolize the pursuit of elusive truths or fleeting moments; In regional verse, the vermilion flycatcher’s red plumage becomes a flash of passion in arid landscapes; The flycatcher’s habit of returning to the same perch mirrors poetic revision—the return to refine; Its insect-hunting precision inspires metaphors for focused attention in a distracted world.
Additional Notes
Flycatcher: Agile insectivores known for aerial sallies, flycatchers (e.g., phoebes, kingbirds) suggest precision, alertness, and fleeting moments. Their repetitive calls (“phoebe!”) can structure a poem’s soundscape. In North American poetry, they often appear in summer or woodland settings, embodying watchfulness or the ephemeral nature of life.
Also Known As
Phoebe Kingbird Pewee Tyrant Flycatcher
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