Hazel Tells Laverne

Hazel Tells Laverne
Katharyn Machan Aal

The rough vernacular used in the poem actually contributes to the main understanding of the theme. "Me a princess", seems like ridiculous diction for that of formal poem, but it creates the picture of a woman, likely lesser on the totem pole of society, being addressed as a future princess.  As she is confronted by the absurd notion of this poor frog, the woman is drawn back by his offer, and rather than jumping for joy at her ability to pull herself out of her "lowly" position, she cries out that it is ridiculous. This seems to me like a more realistic angle of the story about the Frog Prince. Hazel Tells Laverne is in a way a form of a satire. Through the fairy tales we tell and read about, we are made to believe that a mere kiss or magic or some man is going to sweep girls off their feet and to a different world of luxury and comfort and of living happily ever after. This poem brings awareness to the realities of the pursuit of happiness, and by God, even the pursuit of comfort. The woman in the poem is actually a symbol of the harsh reality that keeps us denying a mystical existence that will sweep away our problems, and directs us to the notion that life is truly going to be hard, and that a frog is not going to change that.