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

Put the screws on

Idiomatic Phrase
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

To apply intense pressure or coercion; torture metaphor describing tightening screws to extract compliance, confession, or concession through sustained psychological or practical pressure.

Detailed Definition
Put the screws on means to apply pressure, coercion, or intimidation to force someone to act, confess, pay, comply, or yield. In poetry, the idiom evokes tightening machinery and bodily discomfort, making social pressure physically felt. It suits poems about debt, interrogation, family pressure, political repression, blackmail, and moral compromise. A poet may use it to expose how power works gradually, increasing strain until resistance weakens. The phrase is useful for themes of coercion, fear, and constrained choice.
Example
Example in poetry:
A noir poem might show the landlord putting the screws on the tenant as winter hardens the panes; In a political poem, officials put the screws on witnesses until truth grows frightened; The phrase means to apply pressure or coercion; A poet can use it to expose power and intimidation.
Additional Notes
Put the screws on means apply strong pressure, coercion, or intimidation. The image may suggest tightening screws or instruments of torture, so the idiom carries physical menace. In poetry, it suits interrogation, debt, blackmail, political power, family pressure, and psychological strain. Students should notice the gradual tightening: pressure increases by turns. It pairs well with metal, clamps, wrists, contracts, and the mechanics of fear.
Also Known As
pressure
Skip to main content