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.

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

Islander heritage poetry

Genre
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

Poetry drawing on the traditions, languages, and histories of Pacific Islander cultures

Detailed Definition
Islander heritage poetry encompasses the literary traditions of Pacific Islander communities—including Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian cultures—drawing on oral forms like chants (oli), genealogies (kumulipo), navigation songs, and communal storytelling. Central themes include oceanic identity, land and sea rights, colonial resistance, language preservation, and ancestral memory. Contemporary poets like Craig Santos Perez (Chamorro), Brandy Nālani McDougall (Kanaka Maoli), and Dan Taulapapa McMullin (Samoan) blend English with indigenous languages, weaving personal and political narratives that challenge Western literary norms. This tradition emphasizes place-based knowledge, communal voice, and ecological consciousness, offering vital perspectives on decolonization and cultural resilience.
Example
Example in poetry:
Craig Santos Perez’s “from unincorporated territory [hacha]” integrates Chamorro language and oral history; Brandy Nālani McDougall’s “Aia i hea ka wai o Lahaina” mourns Hawaiian water rights through indigenous poetics; Haunani-Kay Trask’s “Light in the Crevice” confronts colonialism with Pacific Islander voice; Dan Taulapapa McMullin’s “Coconut Milk” reclaims Samoan identity through lyrical narrative; Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio’s “Kumulipo” draws on Hawaiian creation chant in contemporary verse
Additional Notes
Islander heritage poetry draws from Pacific Islander (Polynesian, Micronesian, Melanesian) oral traditions, including chants, genealogies, and navigation songs. Key themes: ocean, land rights, colonialism, language preservation. Poets like Craig Santos Perez and Brandy Nālani McDougall blend English with indigenous languages. Students should approach with cultural humility—avoid exoticizing. Note the centrality of place and communal voice.
Also Known As
Pacific verse tradition Oceanic lyrical lineage indigenous islander song-form AAPI verse
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