P is for the People that you hope will read,

your verses, right out of your soul.

P is for Putty, the thoughts that you knead,

as you inch, bit by bit, to the goal.

O is for the OSCAR that you don't really need,

that is not really your role.

O is the "Omigod" that will surely bleed,

from the readers right into your bowl.

E is for Excellence that must be your creed,

in every part and then in the whole.

E is for Easy which it must be to read,

aim not for the horse but the foal.

M is the Music that must be the seed,

as you hum and sing through your stroll.

M is the Meter, to which you pay heed,

it must be complete, ne'er a hole.

you could write to eat, or on your own words could feed,

you could write of snow or of coal.

but my P's, O's, E's and M's are not weed,

lose them, and your POEMS' not whole.

Copyright ©2003 Sundaram Srinivasan

Writer’s Notes: 

This has been published as the very first poem in another anthology of poems titled “ Colors of Life”. It has also made it to the semifinal stage in an international competition of the International Society of Poets.