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 I

Interstellar Medium

Astronomy
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

An astronomical term for the sparse matter—consisting of gas, dust, and cosmic rays—that fills the vast space between star systems.

Detailed Definition
The interstellar medium is the matter that exists in the vast spaces between stars, composed of gas, dust, and cosmic rays. In poetry, the interstellar medium can symbolize the unseen connections that bind the universe together, the spaces between moments, and the potential for new beginnings. This imagery invites exploration of themes related to solitude, reflection, and the beauty of the unknown, encouraging poets to delve into the quiet spaces of existence and the ways in which they can inspire creativity and introspection.
Example
Example in poetry:
The interstellar medium whispers secrets of the universe; a canvas of dust and gas, where stars are born; poets find inspiration in its vastness, a reminder of our smallness; in the silence of space, stories of creation linger.
Additional Notes
The interstellar medium is composed of gas, dust, and cosmic rays that fill the space between stars in a galaxy. It plays a vital role in star formation and the chemical evolution of galaxies. Studying the interstellar medium helps astronomers understand the lifecycle of matter in the universe.
Also Known As
ISM
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