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

Physicalization

Performance
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

The use of the body to embody a poem’s actions, images, or emotions. It extends meaning beyond the voice alone.

Detailed Definition
Physicalization gives a poem visible form through posture, movement, gesture sequence, and bodily tension. Rather than illustrating every noun or action, a performer selects physical choices that reveal the poem’s underlying energy. A tightened stance may convey restraint, while an expanding posture can suggest release or discovery. In performance poetry, physicalization can make abstract language more immediate, provided that the body remains in dialogue with the poem’s sound and verbal imagery.
Example
Example in poetry:
While reading a poem about carrying water, the poet mimics lifting and balancing a heavy bucket, giving the audience a physical sense of labor; During a poem about a trapped bird, the performer draws their arms tightly against their body and gradually opens them as the bird escapes; A reader performing Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" can use measured hand motions suggesting the placement of stones without turning the poem into full acting; In a poem about boxing, a poet shifts weight, raises their hands, and steps backward to embody the speaker's defensive stance
Additional Notes
Physicalization turns imagery into visible action through posture, gesture, and movement. Use specific, motivated choices rather than constant motion, and let the body support the poem’s voice.
Also Known As
Embodiment Physical Characterization
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