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



straight

Games
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

Straight is a poker hand of five cards in sequential rank, regardless of suit.

Detailed Definition
Straight appears in poetry as a symbol of ordered progression and the unbroken sequence of fortune. In literary contexts it represents the linear advance of power. Poets draw on its ranks to illustrate themes of continuity, the linking of stages, and the strength that comes from successive elements aligned in purpose or time.
Example
Example in poetry:
A straight of sequential ranks supplies poets with the image of ordered and unbroken progress; Verse of the card table uses the run for the strength that comes from consecutive connection; “He held a straight against the chaos of the mixed suits” illustrates linear coherence; Educational poetry shows the hand as the ranking that rewards sequence; Poets keep the straight when the elements of a life or a line must follow one another without gap.
Additional Notes
Straight, the poker hand of five sequential ranks, supplies poets with an image of ordered and unbroken progress that is strong yet still vulnerable to the flush or the full house. The hand’s linear coherence maps cleanly onto ideas of consecutive connection. Classroom discussion can usefully examine the straight’s place in the poker hierarchy. Related sequential hands include the straight flush and the royal flush. The image is effective when the elements of a life or a line must follow one another without gap.
Also Known As
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