and as an experimental writer.’’ In response to
this lack of venue for experimental feminist writ-
ers, Fraser founded the avant-garde feminist
journalHOW(ever)in the early 1980s.
Fraser’s career as a poet, editor, and educa-
tor spans more than forty years. Although her
experimental forms and feminist themes are not
popular with every reader and editor, she has a
solid following and (as of 2008) continues to
write, publish, and receive positive reviews.
Carol Muske, reviewing Fraser’s poetry collec-
tionWhen New Time Folds Upfor theNew York
Times Book Reviewin 1994, writes, ‘‘Her poems
are exhilarating and daring, bringing her long-
time love of words as objects into play with
provocative ideas.’’ Fraser’s 1997 collection of
old and new poems,il cuore: the heart, garnered
praise from David Clippinger, writing in the
Chicago Review. He states that ‘‘the ‘heart’ of
Fraser’s poetry remains here—a heart that
through its mastery of language and perception
is more than capable of generating and deepen-
ing our pathos.’’ Clippinger also notes, ‘‘Fraser’s
task as a poet is archeological...in that she
engages in the act of excavating history in order
to discover (or rediscover) the matrix of meaning
or meanings.’’
Fraser’s work in the early 2000s has contin-
ued to push boundaries. A fan of painting and
visual arts, Fraser most recently experimented
with combining her writing with visual presenta-
tions. For example, her 2004 book,hi dde violeth
i dde violet, was composed as a collage of verse
on the walls of her studio in Rome.
Criticism.
Carol Ullmann
Ullmann is a freelance writer and editor. In the
following essay, Ullmann examines Fraser’s use of
experimental form and feminist voice in ‘‘Poem in
Which My Legs Are Accepted.’’ Ullmann argues
that as an early example of Fraser’s work, this
poem is not very experimental in form but is sur-
prisingly avant-garde in its message.
In Kathleen Fraser’s ‘‘Poem in Which My
Legs Are Accepted,’’ a young teenage girl is
tormented by her supposedly imperfect body;
many teenagers experience this with differing
levels of anxiety and scrutiny. Fraser’s poem is
told from the point of view of the girl as an adult,
an adult who has come to accept and even rejoice
WHAT
DO I READ
NEXT? The Feminine Mystique(1963), by Betty
Friedan, heralded the second wave of the
feminist movement in challenging the com-
monly held notion that women were content
to be housewives.
The Art of Love(1975) is a famous collection
of poetry by Kenneth Koch. Koch was Fras-
er’s teacher and was famous for his exuber-
ance and silliness, which inspired Fraser to
play with language.
Tender Buttons: Objects, Food, Rooms
(1914), by Gertrude Stein, is a novel about
lesbian sexuality, an unusual topic at the
time it was first published. Stein enjoyed
juxtaposing unlike words to elicit new mean-
ings, and the language of this novel is very
experimental. Stein, like Koch, influenced
Fraser’s writing.
Selected Poems(1995), by Barbara Guest,
gives a good overview of the work of one
of Fraser’s oldest friends. Guest’s atten-
tion to language was an inspiration to
Fraser.
One of Fraser’s experimental works ishi
dde violeth i dde violet(2004). It is a poem
that was collaged together on the wall of
Fraser’s studio in Rome. She wrote it for a
friend who had a stroke and could no lon-
ger speak or write.
Of Being Numerous (1968), by George
Oppen, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in- Oppen was a friend of Fraser’s and was
well known for taking part in the ‘‘objectivist’’
poetry movement, an outgrowth of Ezra
Pound’s imagism.
H.D., also known as Hilda Doolittle, was
a prominent feminist and avant-garde
American writer in the early twentieth
century. Her work, such as offered in
her Collected Poems, 1912–1944 (1986),
had a great impact on Fraser as a
young poet.
Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted