Poem Renaissance – Carolyn Martin

Gyroscope Review is celebrating National Poetry Month with a Poem Renaissance, a review of previously published poems looking for new life and new views. Every day through May 20^th, a new poem to fall in love with all over again.

In the Women’s Locker Room
by Carolyn Martin

Without a thought, we slough off bathing suits and caps
and kick them away from the shower’s heat.
Nothing’s left between soap and aprons of fat,
thinning head- and pubic hair, exhausted breasts.

We know each other well
and the husband who can’t find his way back home,
the son who failed at suicide-by-cop,
the boss who made us kneel.

This morning we debate Golden Girls reruns:
from Dorothy’s designer clothes
to what gets more laughs:
Rose’s naiveté or Blanche’s sluttiness.
We wish we were Sophia-sharp
with her tart put-downs and Picture this …

Rather than grousing about the news,
we committed months ago to ritual:
swim, shower, cheer for the camaraderie
that lets us be who we are. No fear
of tears or scars. No holding back.

We haven’t grabbed our towels yet
when three high school goddesses prance by.
Bikinied, svelte, and glorious, they freeze—
hands-over-mouths horrified—
and can barely bare to look.

We wave them smiles and somehow know—
perhaps from decades of growing wise—
no matter how fast or far they flee,
nothing—not prom dates, scholarships,
or first-place trophies—will erase this scene.
We dry off. They run the other way.

First published in Panoplyzine, 2018

Carolyn Martin is a recovering work addict who’s adopted the Spanish proverb, “It is beautiful to do nothing and rest afterwards” as her daily mantra. She is blissfully retired—and resting—in Clackamas, Oregon. Her poems have appeared in more than 200 publications throughout North America, Europe, and Australia, and her sixth collection, Splitting Open the World, was in March published by The Poetry Box. For more: www.carolynmartinpoet.com

Don’t forget to read the Spring 2025 Issue, available now, online and in print

Previous Renaissance Poets

April Poets

May Poets