Poem Renaissance – Andy Macera

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.

Ash Wednesday
by Andy Macera

Tonight you will meet the girl of your dreams

is what you said cruising back to school
on Ocean Drive in your ’69 Dodge Charger 

your aviator sunglasses reflecting
the passing postcards of Art Deco hotels 
palm trees lined up like wedding sparklers

the fabulous couples bioluminescent 
in cloudy sidewalk cafes

a tight Van Halen t-shirt 
showcasing the bomb shelter
of your beefcake biceps 

The Smiths’ This Charming Man 
haunting my head

that sweet stretch of backseat 
shiny black leather polished by parking 
a Canaan for coquetas

while I’m stuck in the front bucket seat
locked up by a lap belt
the center console a commandment

wresting with those wicked thoughts
I only confess in a closet

unable to give you up for forty days

the sea breeze your body
whispering its dirty talk 
through the rolled-down receiver 
of the window

fueling the hurricane in my heart

the high fever of temptation
a wildfire burning down 
to ashes on my forehead 


                    First appeared in the 2024 edition of the Paterson Literary Review



Andy Macera has received awards from Plainsongs, Mad Poets Review and Philadelphia Poets. His work has also appeared in Pearl, Third Wednesday, California Quarterly, Drunk Monkeys, Slant, Philadelphia Stories, Straight Forward, Connecticut River Review, Old Red Kimono, Sierra Nevada Review, Mudfish, Passager and other journals. He lives in West Chester, PA.

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

Previous Renaissance Poets

April Poets