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



Spellcraft

Witchcraft
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

The practice of making and performing spells. It joins intention with words, gestures, and materials.

Detailed Definition
Spellcraft refers to the art of creating spells through spoken language, written formulas, ritual actions, and chosen objects. For poets, the term highlights the kinship between a spell and a poem: both depend on precision, rhythm, image, and belief in language’s effect. A poem about spellcraft may portray revision as potion-making, with each altered word changing the balance, taste, and power of the whole.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Her spellcraft is the craft of naming what others refuse to see” uses the term metaphorically for poetic skill; “Through spellcraft, the speaker turns a grief-struck room into a garden” emphasizes transformation; A poet might describe revision as spellcraft in “I alter one word, and the whole poem changes weather”; “The old woman’s spellcraft lived in bread, herbs, and the patience of her hands” connects magic with everyday labor
Additional Notes
Spellcraft refers to ritual practices combining words, gestures, timing, objects, and intention to bring about a desired effect. For poets, it usefully foregrounds the performative quality of language: saying can be a kind of doing, as in vows, curses, blessings, and incantations. Compare apostrophe and invocation, which address absent powers without necessarily seeking ritual change. Practical hint: use repetition, imperative verbs, and sound patterns to make a spell-like passage feel enacted rather than merely described.
Also Known As
Spell Magic Magick
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