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

underskirt

Apparel
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 skirt worn beneath an outer skirt, providing fullness, warmth, or modesty, often mentioned in poetry for its practical function and its contribution to a woman's silhouette.

Detailed Definition
The underskirt, distinct from a petticoat by being skirt-shaped rather than an open garment, offers poets a way to discuss the architecture of female dress. In 19th-century verse, the underskirt is often the layer that catches the eye when the outer skirt is lifted or blown by the wind, creating moments of accidental revelation. Its fabric—usually sturdier than the outer layer—grounds the description in everyday material life. Poets use the underskirt to comment on the economics of clothing, as it was often made from cheaper materials and could be replaced without the expense of a new outer skirt. In love poetry, the careful arrangement of underskirts by a lady's maid is a ritual of preparation, while in pastoral verse, a torn underskirt suggests a rough encounter with brambles or a hasty flight.
Example
Example in poetry:
"Her underskirt of flannel was a secret warmth against the winter wind"; "The underskirt's rustle was the sound of her approach"; "She lifted her outer skirt to show the underskirt's lace"; "The underskirt, dyed a soft pink, was her only frivolity"; "He saw her underskirt hem and felt the intimacy of the private"; "The underskirt, patched and mended, was a garment of survival"
Additional Notes
The underskirt, distinct from a petticoat by being skirt-shaped rather than an open garment, offers poets a way to discuss the architecture of female dress. In 19th-century verse, the underskirt is often the layer that catches the eye when the outer skirt is lifted or blown by the wind, creating moments of accidental revelation. Its fabric—usually sturdier than the outer layer—grounds the description in everyday material life. Poets use the underskirt to comment on the economics of clothing, as it was often made from cheaper materials and could be replaced without the expense of a new outer skirt. In love poetry, the careful arrangement of underskirts by a lady's maid is a ritual of preparation. Related terms include petticoat, slip, and crinoline. Students should note the underskirt's role in providing structure and its ability to signal both modesty and hidden layers.
Also Known As
petticoat crinoline layer undergarment
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