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

fulmar

Archaic Terms
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 type of Arctic seabird related to petrels and shearwaters; also called "foul gull" due to its malodorous stomach oil.

Detailed Definition
"Fulmar" derives from Old Norse "fúll" (foul) and "már" (gull), referring to a robust seabird of northern waters known for its distinctive musty smell and habit of spitting foul-smelling oil at threats. The term appears in poetry dealing with northern seas, maritime life, or natural history. Its specific ornithological reference made it useful for poets seeking precision in natural description or creating authentic nautical atmosphere. The bird's associations with Arctic waters, harsh conditions, and defensive adaptations gave it symbolic potential for exploring themes of survival, isolation, and nature's defensive mechanisms. Maritime poets valued such specific nomenclature for technical accuracy and atmospheric effect. The fulmar's unusual defensive behavior—projectile vomiting oil—made it memorable and occasionally metaphorical. The term exemplifies how precise natural history vocabulary enriched poetic language, offering specific images and associations beyond generic bird references.
Example
Example in poetry:
The fulmar glides above the northern seas; "Gray fulmars wheel and cry above the cliffs"; Fulmars are seabirds of Arctic regions; The sailor spotted fulmars near icy shores; Fulmars nest on steep coastal precipices; Poets describe fulmars riding storm winds
Additional Notes
Fulmar appears primarily in natural history poetry, maritime literature, and texts describing Arctic or North Atlantic settings. The bird's association with fishermen (following vessels for offal) and its defensive stomach oil (the "foul" origin of its name) make it symbolically rich for maritime themes. Related to "gull" and other seabird terms. Essential for analyzing natural history in poetry, maritime symbolism, and how literature represents Arctic or northern environments. The term's specificity (versus generic "seabird") signals author's naturalist knowledge or commitment to precise description. Useful for discussing how poetry incorporates ornithology, the symbolic potential of birds associated with harsh climates and seafaring, and the intersection of natural history and literature. Its relative rarity makes it a marker of specialized knowledge or regional authenticity in maritime writing.
Also Known As
sea bird fulmarus petrel
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