"Hazel Tells LaVerne" by Katharyn Howd Machan

                While reading all the poems and short stories in this unit, I have been asking myself what components of each work stand out to me; however, when reading “Hazel Tells LaVerne” by Katharyn Howd Machan, I couldn’t help but think that the entire poem stood out to me in comparison to all the other pieces in this unit. While all the other poems have a somewhat forlorn or serious theme, Machan tackles the very difficult task in “Hazel Tells LaVerne” of effectively conveying a very serious message while simultaneously entertaining the reader by saturating the poem with humor and voice. In response to the second critical thinking question regarding “Hazel Tells Laverne,” I would have to remark that the poem’s humor stems from Machan’s diction and lack of punctuation. The speaker in the poem is consistently grammatically incorrect, using words and phrases such as “cleanin,” “musta,” and “tryin ta climb.” Not only does this lack of proper English indicate that the woman is not educated (and is most likely African American considering that her job as a hotel maid was common for African American women of the time), but it also creates a very airy and lighthearted tone for the poem which makes the humor even more blatant. The humor itself stems from the speaker’s thoughts, words, and actions, which are revealed in the poem to be very blunt and cynical. For example, despite the fact that the frog’s offer to a poor woman such as the speaker to become a princess might seem appealing to most readers, the speaker labels the frog as “ya little green pervert” (Machan) rather than as a hero! She also uses phrases such as “sohelpmegod” (which is intentionally written as one word to emphasize her character and humorous nature) and performs ironic stunts such as flushing the frog down the toilet rather than kissing him to contribute to the poem’s humor. Furthermore, these very same phrases not only create the poem’s humor, but also shape the speaker’s blunt and determined personality, as well.

                While “Hazel Tells LaVerne” is undoubtedly a very humorous poem, however, Machan obviously intended to convey a very serious message within the context of this poem as well. While the poem may be a lighthearted parody of “The Frog Prince,” the fact remains that the ironic ending to the poem indicates the fact that many individuals of African American background placed no value on their identities and consequently harbored no hope of achieving anything remarkable in their lifetimes. In all honesty, most stories containing a frog begging for a kiss from a lovely woman conclude with the “happily ever after” of a prince and princess falling in love. In “Hazel Tells LaVerne,” however, Hazel merely laughs at the mere thought of becoming a princess. I also noticed when analyzing this poem that only one line in the entirety of the poem consists of only one word. This occurs at the very end when Hazel says, “me a princess” (Machan) and “me” stands on a line all by itself. I believe Machan’s purpose in isolating this word from all others was to emphasize the fact that even the illusion of becoming a princess- or really anything superior for a hotel maid, for that matter- was simply incomprehensible to a woman with a background and heritage as humble as Hazel’s. Therefore, although “Hazel Tells LaVerne” is certainly a very comical poem, Machan clearly was also conveying a sense that many African Americans of the time attributed no value to their identity and revealing the fact that, in many cases, a person’s identity was one of their greatest inhibitions in life.