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 P

Pontianak’s Sister

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

A poetic variation on the Southeast Asian female revenant associated with childbirth, betrayal, and nocturnal haunting.

Detailed Definition
Pontianak’s Sister is a creative poetic term inspired by the pontianak, a female ghost in Malay and Indonesian folklore often linked to death in childbirth and the vengeance of the wronged. The invented relation should not be presented as a fixed traditional figure, but it can extend the themes of grief, patriarchal violence, and unresolved maternity. In poetry, she may haunt gardens, roads, or mirrors, carrying a cry that is both lullaby and accusation, and turning the landscape into a record of women whose deaths were denied meaning.
Example
Example in poetry:
A gothic poem may imagine Pontianak’s Sister waiting beneath a flowering tree after sunset; The poet can use this invented relation to explore how a legendary terror might be remembered through family grief; Fragrant blossoms beside a predatory spirit create a disturbing contrast; A respectful poem should distinguish this creative variation from the Pontianak traditions of Southeast Asian folklore.
Additional Notes
Pontianak’s Sister is a poetic variation rather than a standard traditional title. It draws on the pontianak, a female ghost or revenant in Malay and Indonesian folklore, commonly associated in modern retellings with death in childbirth, betrayal, beauty, and nocturnal revenge. The phrase can imply kinship, resemblance, or a new character inspired by that tradition. In poetry, it supports themes of grief, violated trust, motherhood, scent, jungle darkness, and sudden haunting. Related terms include kuntilanak, revenant, banshee, and female ghost. Because regional traditions differ, avoid presenting one version as universal across Southeast Asia.
Also Known As
Sister of Shadows Twin of Night Dark Companion
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