diff --git a/ports/rp2/Makefile b/ports/rp2/Makefile
index f950bc7b9089..afa21cc7a438 100644
--- a/ports/rp2/Makefile
+++ b/ports/rp2/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 #
 # This is a simple wrapper around cmake
 
+include ../../py/verbose.mk
+
 # Select the board to build for:
 ifdef BOARD_DIR
 # Custom board path - remove trailing slash and get the final component of
@@ -28,7 +30,9 @@ else
 BUILD ?= build-$(BOARD)
 endif
 
-$(VERBOSE)MAKESILENT = -s
+ifeq ($(BUILD_VERBOSE),1)
+MAKE_ARGS += VERBOSE=1  # Picked up in Makefile generated by CMake
+endif
 
 CMAKE_ARGS += -DMICROPY_BOARD=$(BOARD) -DMICROPY_BOARD_DIR="$(abspath $(BOARD_DIR))"
 
@@ -56,7 +60,7 @@ HELP_BUILD_ERROR ?= "See \033[1;31mhttps://github.com/micropython/micropython/wi
 
 all:
 	[ -e $(BUILD)/Makefile ] || cmake -S . -B $(BUILD) -DPICO_BUILD_DOCS=0 ${CMAKE_ARGS}
-	$(MAKE) $(MAKESILENT) -C $(BUILD) || (echo -e $(HELP_BUILD_ERROR); false)
+	$(MAKE) $(MAKE_ARGS) -C $(BUILD) || (echo -e $(HELP_BUILD_ERROR); false)
 
 clean:
 	$(RM) -rf $(BUILD)