Poem in Which My Legs
Are Accepted
Kathleen Fraser’s ‘‘Poem in Which My Legs Are
Accepted’’ was first published in 1968 inThe
Young American Poets, an anthology edited by
Paul Carroll. It is one of Fraser’s early poems,
appearing in print only two years after her first
volume of verse,Change of Address, and Other
Poems(1966). She later included this poem in her
book of collected and new poetryWhat I Want
(1974), which is still available. ‘‘Poem in Which
My Legs Are Accepted’’ was reprinted in the
anthologyIn Her Own Image: Women Working
in the Arts(1980), which is also still available.
‘‘Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted’’ is
about growth: from adolescence to womanhood,
from awkward embarrassment over the flaws of
one’s body to confidence and acceptance. Fraser’s
long career as an experimental and feminist poet
spans more than forty years. ‘‘Poem in Which My
Legs Are Accepted’’ is less experimental in form
than Fraser’s later work, focusing instead on
the intimate and important theme of loving
one’s body.Author Biography
Kathleen Joy Fraser was born in Tulsa, Okla-
homa, on March 22, 1935 (some sources say
1937), to Marjorie (Axtell) Fraser and James
Fraser II. She was the eldest of four siblings.
Fraser inherited a love of words and language
from her father, who often recited nonsense260
KATHLEEN FRASER
1968