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



1918

Invention of the Thompson Submachine Gun

Poet involved

What happened

The Thompson Submachine Gun, developed by John T. Thompson in 1918, revolutionized warfare with its compact design and use of .45 ACP cartridges. Known colloquially as the 'Tommy Gun,' it became iconic during the Prohibition era and was favored by gangsters and law enforcement alike. Its introduction marked a significant evolution in firearm technology, influencing military and civilian weaponry for decades.

Literary impact

The invention of the Thompson submachine gun in 1918 became emblematic of Prohibition-era crime and warfare, influencing urban poets like Langston Hughes to address themes of violence and societal decay. This weapon's association with gritty realities found its way into the fabric of American poetry during tumultuous times.

Source: Wikipedia

Poets alive in 1918

218 poets

More events in 1918

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