March 15, 2026 · Sivam Pillai · free verse

Poetic Parable

There are two things I love about writing poetry: the ability to cryptically express emotion, and the freedom to play with language itself. This poem leans heavily toward the latter. The idea began as a simple challenge — to write an entire poem using only words that start with the same letter. But as the experiment evolved, so did the meaning behind it. What started as wordplay slowly turned into a reflection on power, prejudice, politics, perseverance, and progress. Beneath the alliteration lies a social narrative — one that contrasts oppression with resilience, corruption with principle, and division with the possibility of prosperity through collective progress. After shaping the poem’s theme and narrative, I searched for the right letter to carry its rhythm and emotion. After several iterations, I knew that letter had to be “P.” From there began a journey into unfamiliar territory — part linguistic puzzle, part poetic exploration. Needless to say, the dictionary became an indispensable companion; after all, I am neither a native English speaker nor a vocabulary expert.