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.

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 W

Werowance

Mythology
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 Powhatan (Algonquian) title for a tribal chief or leader, sometimes referenced in colonial-era poetry or ethnographic verse.

Detailed Definition
Werowance is a Powhatan (Algonquian) term for chief or leader, denoting authority in Tidewater Virginia societies. It appears in early colonial records. In poetry, Werowance symbolizes indigenous governance, the complexity of pre-contact political structures, and the legacy of leaders like Powhatan. Poets use it to explore themes of sovereignty, diplomacy, and the erasure of Algonquian leadership in colonial narratives.
Example
Example in poetry:
Werowance, the Algonquian chief, appears in poetry as the council fire’s steady voice; A verse describes Werowance mediating disputes with cornbread and consensus; Poets use Werowance to honor Indigenous governance: “He rules by listening, not decree”; In historical poetry, his diplomacy counters conquest narratives; His staff becomes a talking stick in verse—passing wisdom without force.
Additional Notes
Werowance is a Powhatan (Algonquian) term for a chief or leader, not a mythological being; it appears in early colonial records—poets referencing Werowance should contextualize it historically within Tsenacommacah (Powhatan Confederacy) and avoid using it as a generic “Indian chief” trope; leadership was often spiritual and communal, not autocratic.
Also Known As
Chief Sachem
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