Po'm vs. Po-em

James claims
P-O-E-M
should be pronounced
po-em--
"because that's how its spelled."
While I like to meld
the two sounds into one:
po'm --
and be done.

P-O-E-M in two beats
takes more time
and less fun
as it depletes
the potential for rhyme
if syllabically one.
And of all words which should find
it easy to rhyme
P-O-E-M
should L-E-A-D them.

Ponder the poetic possibilities of po'm!
To paint the palaces of Rome;
Create a longing for home;
To sing the ocean's white foam,
Or the bee's honeycomb;
To wonder at the life of a gnome,
Or live to wander and roam!
All are possible if P-O-E-M is po'm.
And if the writer of po'ms
prefers to write in a boat
then, for the sake of the rhyme,
lets call him a po't.

But what
rhymes with po-em?
Except for a handbook for a farmhand:
If you have fields, hoe 'em.
If you have seeds, sew 'em.
If you want crops, grow 'em.
When they've grown up, mow 'em.
Then tow 'em
To a barn for to stow 'em.
That's all you get if P-O-E-M is po-em.

And if after this po'm
James persists
to say po-em,
Well,
I must insist
she call me Jo-el.
(That'll show 'em.)

Why, you might ask, when James is a she,
Do I call her James instead of Jamie?
Because of the two names
James claims more word-games.
Jamie only rhymes with Amy,
While James claims me,
Sometimes maims me,
But of all dames,
James tames me.

By Joel Ackerman for Jamie Brinkerhoff