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

Word in edgewise

Idiomatic Phrase
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

An idiomatic expression referring to the opportunity to interject or contribute to a conversation, often used negatively (e.g., "couldn't get a word in edgewise") to depict dominance in dialogue or the silencing of voices in dramatic or poetic contexts.

Detailed Definition
Word in edgewise means a chance to speak in a conversation dominated by another person. The idiom suggests language squeezed into a narrow opening, making speech spatial and contested. In poetry, it can characterise chatter, argument, silencing, gendered conversation, family life, or public debate. A speaker who cannot get a word in edgewise may feel excluded, amused, or oppressed. The phrase is useful for exploring voice, interruption, conversational power, and the struggle to be heard.
Example
Example in poetry:
A comic poem might show the talkative aunt leaving no room for a word in edgewise; In a debate poem, the young reformer cannot get a word in edgewise while elders thunder; The phrase means to be unable to speak because another person talks too much; A poet can use it for voice and interruption.
Additional Notes
A word in edgewise is a chance to speak during someone else’s constant talking. The idiom suggests conversation so crowded that speech must slip in sideways through a narrow gap. In poetry, it can reveal domination, comic chatter, silencing, family dynamics, or social hierarchy. Students should ask who gets space to speak and who is interrupted. It pairs well with breathless monologue, doorways, crowded rooms, and the politics of voice.
Also Known As
chance to speak
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