Holly Patton
Mrs. Jernigan
AP English IV
31 January 2011
“Hazel Tells Laverne”
Katharyn Howd Machan
In Machan’s poem, the reader is met with comical and Langston Hughes-esque diction –only more coloquiall. Amidst all the unstructured structure and informalities, there appears to be a slight pattern. While it seems that Machan throws and strews her thoughts into an unthoughtful stream of consciousness, she singles out the most shocking ideas making each complete thought a couplet. She says “…an how I can be a princess/ me a princess.” With the princess imagery strongly juxtaposing the bathroom imagery, her tone sounds sardonic yet with a slight hint of curiosity as to whether there is some truth in the frog’s words. Then, when the frog issues its appeal of, “Kiss me just kiss/ once on the nose”, the fascination of becoming a princess vanishes transpiring once more into unsanitary imagery. Machan finishes off her work with the narrator’s scoffing words, “me/ a princess.” The narrator lives in the reality of her lifestyle with no room for dreams or fairytales. Machan’s metaphorical words convey the narrator’s perception of life: even when chances and opportunities stare her in the face, she disregards, even scoffs at them thinking that her hand has been dealt. Why change life when it’s only ok, especially when it means taking a risk and getting her hands, or in this case her lips, dirty? The narrator settles for a mediocre life and is content to watch opportunities pass her by.
In all the strange qualities of this poem, the one detail that remains a mystery to me is the title, “Hazel Tells Laverne.” It might be some period allusion of some sort. Machan made no mention of any characters by those names.
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