Let P be a Poisson algebra with a Lie bracket {, } over a field F of characteristic p ≥ 0. In this paper, the Lie structure of P is investigated. In particular, if P is solvable with respect to its Lie bracket, then we prove that the Poisson ideal J of P generated by all elements {{{x1, x2}, {x3, x4}}, x5} with x1, . . . , x5 ∈ P is associative nilpotent of index bounded by a function of the derived length of P . We use this result to further prove that if P is solvable and p = 2, then the Poisson ideal {P, P }P is nil.