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

Skirmish

Military
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 skirmish is a small, often unplanned engagement between opposing military forces, typically less significant than a full battle.

Detailed Definition
The skirmish captures warfare's unpredictable, fragmentary nature, a sudden burst of violence outside the structured drama of formal battle. Poets use skirmishes to depict the constant, low-level danger soldiers face even during periods without major offensives, emphasizing that death and injury could arrive unexpectedly in brief, chaotic clashes. The term suggests warfare's pervasive threat beyond its most historically documented confrontations.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem might depict a brief, chaotic skirmish erupting unexpectedly during an otherwise quiet patrol; Poets use "skirmish" to capture warfare's unpredictable, fragmentary bursts of sudden violence; A verse could contrast the skirmish's brevity with its capacity for unexpected, lasting loss; The term appears in poetry emphasizing constant low-level danger beyond major documented battles; A poem might describe soldiers recovering from a skirmish's shock, unprepared for its suddenness; Historical war poetry sometimes uses skirmishes to suggest warfare's pervasive, ever-present threat.
Additional Notes
A skirmish is a small, often unplanned engagement between opposing military forces, typically less significant than a battle. Skirmishes occur between patrols, advance guards, or outposts. They are often the first contact in a campaign. In poetry, the skirmish represents the immediate, close-range violence of war, the sudden burst of combat. Related terms include clash, encounter, and firefight. Skirmishes are training grounds and morale builders, but they also reveal the relative strengths of opposing forces. The term is often used metaphorically for any minor conflict.
Also Known As
Clash Engagement Fight Scuffle Fray Running Fight warre
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