Katharyn Howd Machan: Selected Poems

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Variety in subject, tone, and approach defines Katharyn Howd Machan's selected poems, a choice representation of more than four decades of her poetry. Tracing the literary journey of a woman who has been following the writing path since age 15, Machan's many volumes include poems about raccoons, the female shapeshifter Fox, feminist takes on fairy tales and classical mythology, the personal mythology of her family, her daughter's heroin addiction, her travels to France and Greece, her loves and lovers, her devotion to dance, her appreciation of food. Monologues from her 1888 fictional town of Redwing reveal stories the residents dare not speak aloud. Sonnets chronicle the life of the Professor, a male academic poet, while other poems honor the Wise Woman, the Crone, the Goddess. With the fractured fairy tale, "Hazel Tells LaVerne," Machan's most widely reprinted poem, she gives us a reworking of the princess and the frog tale.