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 O

Orang Minyak

Folklore
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

Oily-skinned rapist spirit in Malay folklore who slips through defenses

Detailed Definition
Orang Minyak embodies sexual violence and societal fears. In poetry, he represents the violation of safety, the invisibility of predators, and collective trauma, often used in cautionary or feminist works.
Example
Example in poetry:
Orang Minyak, oily Malaysian phantom, haunts horror poetry: "Orang Minyak slips through walls—slick and silent, seeking prey"; Poets use him to explore violation: "He oozes through the keyhole thin—Orang Minyak’s touch is cold and greasy"; In cautionary tales, he symbolizes urban fear: "Lock your doors at midnight deep—Orang Minyak walks when lamps grow dim"; His unnatural form inspires disgust: "Not man, not ghost—but Orang Minyak leaves oily prints on sheets"
Additional Notes
Orang Minyak: A supernatural “oily man” in Malay folklore, covered in black oil, who slips into homes at night to assault women. Represents sexual threat and urban fear. In poetry, it embodies violation, invisibility, and societal anxiety. Use with sensitivity—often reflects real-world gendered violence masked as myth.
Also Known As
Orang Minyak (Malay oily man) Oil Man
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