Hazel Tells Laverne- Kathryn Howd Machan

In Hazel Tells Laverne by Kathryn Howd Machan, the main idea of the poem is similar to the folk tale, The Princess and the Frog. It is almost like a twist of this renowned fairy tale. The woman is a maid in the hotel chain Howard Johnson, and completely disregards the frog prince. The personality and humor that comes out of this poem is what gives it its distinctiveness. When Machan uses words like "musta", "flushm", and "hitsm", we can see her language and regional accent show through. Also, with Machan's phrase, "ya little green pervert," a sense of humor enlightened the poem. She flushed the frog down the toilet instead of turning into a princess.

In a way, I feel like the character in this poem was down to earth. She wouldn't let herself become too worked up over the mere thought of becoming more than a maid. She realized that this was crazy. A talking frog? Yeah right, she thought. Maybe this poem meant to juxtapose the original fairy tale by saying that that princess does not see the realities of life.