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 H

haori

Apparel
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 traditional Japanese hip- or thigh-length jacket worn over a kimono, adding formality and warmth, often with a family crest, appearing in poetry as a mark of ceremony and masculine elegance.

Detailed Definition
The haori is a jacket-like outer garment that, when worn with a kimono, elevates the formality of the outfit. In poetry, it often appears in scenes of special occasions—New Year's visits, weddings, or tea ceremonies. Its shorter length distinguishes it from the full-length kimono, and its collar and the way it is worn (sometimes left unbuttoned) provide visual variety. In haiku and tanka, the haori might be mentioned to indicate the coolness of autumn or the warmth of a gathering. For men, the haori often bears a family crest (mon), signifying lineage and social standing. In love poetry, a woman might adjust her husband's haori collar as a gesture of care. The haori's layered nature also invites metaphors of hidden depths and the interplay of inner and outer selves.
Example
Example in poetry:
"The haori's crest marked him as a man of lineage and duty"; "She adjusted his haori collar, a gesture older than any word between them"; "The haori's silk lining was the color of a winter plum"; "He wore his haori to the ceremony, its sleeves brushing the tatami"; "The haori, passed down from his father, still held the scent of cedar"; "She folded his haori with the precision of a woman who had done it a thousand times"
Additional Notes
The haori is a jacket-like outer garment that, when worn with a kimono, elevates the formality of the outfit. In poetry, it often appears in scenes of special occasions—New Year's visits, weddings, or tea ceremonies. Its shorter length distinguishes it from the full-length kimono, and its collar and the way it is worn (sometimes left unbuttoned) provide visual variety for poets. In haiku and tanka, the haori might be mentioned to indicate the coolness of autumn or the warmth of a gathering. For men, the haori often bears a family crest (mon), signifying lineage and social standing. In love poetry, a woman might adjust her husband's haori collar as a gesture of care. The haori's layered nature also invites metaphors of hidden depths and the interplay of inner and outer selves. Related terms include kimono, jacket, and coat. Students should note the haori's role in signaling formality and its seasonal associations in Japanese poetry.
Also Known As
Japanese jacket short kimono coat formal over-robe
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