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

Skelp

Dialect
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 smack, slap, or strike briskly; also the sound or action of such a blow.

Detailed Definition
"Skelp" is both verb and noun, the action of a sharp slap and the sound it makes, and its very pronunciation — that hard initial consonant, the short vowel — enacts the quick, stinging quality of the blow it describes. In Scots poetry it appears in comic, flyting, and narrative verse, contributing physical energy and a certain rough humour. Burns uses related vocabulary to animate his comic scenes, and "skelp" belongs to the tradition of Scots physical expression that refuses to romanticise the human body or its treatment.
Example
Example in poetry:
"Skelp" means to slap, strike, or move at speed; A poet might write: "He skelped the horse tae gallop fast — / as if the night itself was chased." for action and urgency; "She skelped him wi' a sharp rebuke — / the kind that strikes beyond the look." uses the word for verbal impact; "The rain skelped doun on the flagstone floor — / each drop a knock on winter's door." applies the word to weather; "The bairn was skelped and sent tae bed — / wi' more than pain enough tae dread." records domestic discipline with ambivalence; "Skelp through life wi' fire and nerve — / the timid get what they deserve." offers vigorous if blunt encouragement
Additional Notes
Skelp is a word with strong physical immediacy — the flat-handed smack, the brisk blow, the sound of impact. Its brevity enacts the speed of the action: there is nothing drawn-out about a "skelp." In domestic and comic verse it appears in scenes of punishment, slapstick, and energetic action. It also gives rise to "skelping" (moving briskly, as in "skelping along the road"), which extends the idea of sharp, brisk movement beyond violence into general energetic progress. For students, "skelp" belongs to the Scots vocabulary of physical action that includes "clour" (a heavy blow), "dunt" (a bump or push), and "scud" (a slap), all of which give Scots narrative poetry its characteristic physical directness.
Also Known As
Slap Strike Lash
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