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 S

Shape poetry

Form
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

Poems arranged visually on the page to create a shape related to the subject matter

Detailed Definition
Shape poetry: Poetry where words are arranged in visual patterns related to subject matter, creating images through typography. Also called concrete poetry or pattern poetry, shape poetry treats page as visual field where spatial arrangement generates meaning. The form spans ancient Greek technopaegnia through George Herbert's wings and altars to contemporary experimental work. Shape poetry challenges linear reading and engages visual perception, suggesting that meaning emerges from multiple dimensions including spatial arrangement, not just semantic content read sequentially. Understanding shape poetry reveals poetry's visual dimensions and materiality.
Example
Example in poetry:
George Herbert’s “Easter Wings” uses shape poetry with lines mimicking wings; In “The Altar,” Herbert’s poem is shaped like an altar; Contemporary concrete poetry arranges words as rain, trees, or protest signs; Student exercise: poem shaped like a key to represent memory; Another: using digital tools to create poem in spiral form.
Additional Notes
Shape poetry (concrete poetry) arranges text to create visual representations of subjects. Words form pictures related to content, making typography integral to meaning and uniting visual with verbal art.
Also Known As
Concrete poetry figured poem visual verse Carmina figurata Concrete Poetry (Global) Concrete/Visual Poetry (Worldwide) Figural poetry Pattern Poetry Poésie concrète
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