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 P

Parrhesia

Philosophy
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

Frank, courageous speech that risks social or personal consequences in telling the truth.

Detailed Definition
A poem of parrhesia speaks plainly where politeness, power, or fear would encourage silence. Its honesty is not merely confession; it involves a speaker accepting responsibility for an utterance addressed to someone capable of punishment. Direct accusation, public lament, testimony, and self-critique may all become forms of parrhesia. The term also raises questions about who is permitted to speak freely, whose truth is believed, and how poetic candor can resist both censorship and theatrical self-display.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem uses parrhesia when its speaker tells an uncomfortable truth openly, even at personal risk; A protest poem that names state violence instead of softening it practices frank speech; In a dramatic monologue, a servant who directly confronts a powerful ruler can embody parrhesia; A confessional lyric may use parrhesia by admitting shame, desire, or complicity without hiding behind decorative language
Additional Notes
Parrhesia is truth-telling marked by candor, courage, and risk. In classical Greek thought, the parrhesiast speaks openly because truth matters, even when honesty may anger rulers, communities, or friends. The term is not merely bluntness; it implies ethical responsibility and a willingness to accept consequences. A poem may use a prophetic or confrontational voice as parrhesiastic when it challenges accepted narratives or exposes injustice.
Other Meanings of “Parrhesia”
Also Known As
Frank Speech Fearless Speech Truth-Telling
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