"Hazel Tells LaVerne" by Katharyn Howd Machan

“Hazel Tells LaVerne,” a poem written by author Katharyn Howd Machan, cleverly creates an image of a working woman, living in the lower social class and economic class. They author illustrates this sense of a lower class citizen through various techniques and observations. As the poem is written in a grammatically incorrect way, the vernacular of the character in question is revealed. Although this does not always old true, misspelled and slurred words oftentimes form the idea of a lower class citizen who was never educated properly. It is through this that the author adds a personality and background to the character without coming straight out and stating the facts. Furthermore, the prospect of a lower economic class citizen shines through the occupation of the speaker. It appears that she is a cleaning lady in a hotel, which does not pay much. All of these clues and hints allow the reader to understand that the speaker is probably a poorer citizen, especially when the poem begins to stretch the truth with the appearance of a frog prince. When the speaker is told that kissing the frog will make her dreams come true, she states and then repeats later, “me a princess,” (Machan). The way she states that line is as though she feels something so far from her reach now could not become fathomable by kissing a silly frog. It is this unfortunate feeling that oftentimes invades the worlds of those struggling to get by every day, as men and women, like the woman in “Hazel Tells LaVerne,” see a future any different from their current situation unreachable.