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

Skiff

Transport
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 small, light boat for shallow water or short journeys. It often suggests simplicity, fishing, and coastal quiet.

Detailed Definition
A skiff is a small, shallow-draft boat, usually simple in design and suited to rivers, marshes, harbors, and sheltered sea water. In poetry, a skiff can rest among reeds, scrape against a dock, or carry one person into a wide reflective expanse. Its modest size emphasizes the scale of surrounding water and sky. A skiff is useful for images of local labor, childhood exploration, or a solitary crossing made without grandeur or protection.
Example
Example in poetry:
“A skiff slipped into the marsh before the moon had risen” uses the small boat’s lightness and stealth; A poet may choose skiff rather than boat when a brief, precise nautical word suits a coastal setting; “Their skiff rocked among the oyster beds, small as a leaf” emphasizes vulnerability; In a fishing poem, a skiff lets the speaker remain close to wind, tide, and working hands
Additional Notes
A skiff is smaller and plainer than many boats, often suggesting practical coastal life rather than grandeur. Use it in images of fishing, marshes, shorelines, or quiet crossings; its lightness can imply fragility.
Also Known As
Dinghy
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