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 U

underlay

Craft Terms
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

Underlay means to place something beneath or below another layer; in poetry, it can suggest a hidden structure, supporting image, or background meaning beneath the surface of a poem.

Detailed Definition
In literal craft use, underlay describes a base layer placed beneath another material for support, protection, or effect. In poetry, it may refer to the quiet framework beneath the visible text, such as an implied emotional ground or structural support. It belongs in craft language because it evokes layered making and concealed support.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poet may describe an underlay of fallen leaves beneath snow as metaphor for hidden memory beneath present experience; Underlying rhythm in free verse can create subtle musicality without strict meter; A poem about family might describe an underlay of old resentments beneath polite conversation; Foundation imagery, such as an underlayment beneath flooring, can symbolize unseen support structures in a life; A poet describing geology might use underlying bedrock as metaphor for stable core identity; An underlay of subtext often runs beneath a poem's literal narrative, rewarding close reading.
Additional Notes
Underlay describes placing something beneath another layer, often used metaphorically to discuss subtext, hidden structure, or unspoken tension beneath a poem's literal surface; instructors might explore how underlay imagery encourages close reading practices, since it suggests that a poem's most important meanings may lie not in its explicit statements but in the structures and tensions quietly supporting them from beneath.
Also Known As
underlayer base layer foundation
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