How to Write a Telenovela
The protagonists—boy
who joins a group of cat-loving
Satan worshippers,
A-student goth girl who falls off
a rooftop while fleeing la polizia.
In a telenovela chapter,
there is an average of ten
scenes before a commercial break,
with more dialogue than a movie,
and lots of alternating plots.
Make sure there is a plenitude
of bullies, predators, thieves.
Provide enough iconic racy
moments while the marinara
is getting cold—smeared-lips kisses,
dress pulled off in one smooth
movement, tossed
onto a stranger’s bedroom floor.
Unrequited love, rapes,
tumors, mental hospitals, and secret
adoptions keep the audience
tuned in for more.
Make the viewers wonder if justice
will be done to the arrogant
hero, if the underdog will overcome
growing up poor. Remember,
the man most evil is always rich,
wears custom suits. There’s a woman
in his orbit who often goes shopping
at La Galleria Piazza Garibaldi.
Extra points for: una relazione a tre—
a romantic triangle; characters
switched at birth; and at least
one person in disgrace
with fortune and men’s eyes.
Make sure no one important dies.
Telenova 12
Sooner or later, a telenovela man
gets his face slapped.
Roberto, again.
Come un cane—the man is like a dog.
He dumps Lara, then pushes her
against a wall of his office,
penetration on his mind.
As Lara knows, having sneaked a look
at a letter on his desk,
he has just been abandoned
by the woman he professes to love—
Marina, the one with the best clothes.
Is such a man capable of love?
His employees’ eyes turn to slits
when they see him, brute in a suit.
He yells too much, and Lara
has bruises on her arm.
See all the smiling couples the day
of San Valentino and the sad ones, too,
who didn’t get, or give, flowers
and chocolates. A world can turn
on red indentations on one’s skin,
a dozen roses, a ribboned red
box shaped like an unbroken heart.
Susana H. Case is the author of ten books of poetry, most recently, Matinée Girls (Broadstone Books, 2026), and co-editor with Margo Taft Stever of I Wanna Be Loved by You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe (Milk & Cake Press, 2022), Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Book Award as well as Finalist for several awards. Case is also co-editor with Margo Taft Stever and Sandra Yannone of Unsinkable: Poems Inspired by the Titanic (Salmon Poetry, 2026). She won the Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Competition in 2002 for The Scottish Café, which was re- released in English/Polish as Kawiarnia Szkocka (Opole University Press, 2010) and in English/Ukrainian as Шотландська Кав'ярня (Slapering Hol Press, 2024). susanahcase.com