Teaching Romeo & Juliet
- 6 minutes ago
- 1 min read
By Violeta Garcia-Mendoza
Because teenagers today are wooed with better lies
it’s no surprise they shrug when I begin with
this is not a love story. Already Wikipedia’s told them
it’s a tragedy before the prologue has & they’re expecting
damage. Romeo is all red flags, Juliet is too wide-eyed
& doesn’t fear adrenaline the blood as well as love?
Who cares about the heartbeat of iambic pentameter
when you can count the faults of Shakespeare’s characters.
Not even one student misunderstands the play & loves it
like I did. Back then I was devoted to the nineties’
adaptation—wanting only to be chosen, loved in spite of
complication. Now my students watch the movie for Paul Rudd
& I don’t tell them how it kept me company that worst of
8th grade months I felt I’d die. O let art offer us protection.
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Violeta Garcia-Mendoza is a Spanish-American poet, teacher, and suburban wildlife photographer. Her poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals, and in 2022, she received a grant from the Sustainable Arts Foundation. Violeta lives with her husband, teenage children, and pack of rescue dogs on a small certified wildlife habitat in western Pennsylvania. SONGS FOR THE LAND-BOUND (June Road Press, 2024) is her first book.
