March 2023

Spring awaits.

Survival Instinct

 by Carla Schwartz

I want to walk the esker

but with each step

in snow

my feet sink deeper.

The wind—so cold

it burns my fingers.

I look to the slope

but find daunting

the prospect of snow

swallowing more of me

with each step of climb

and so, with regret

I turn, and on return

I trace the hollows

where I stepped before—

follow once more my own trail

that I might soon

be warm. 

Carla Schwartz is a poet, filmmaker, photographer, and blogger. Her poems have appeared in Amsterdam Quarterly, Fulcrum, California Quarterly, Ibbetson Street Press, Mom Egg Review, Paterson Literary Review, Smoky Quartz Anthology, Solstice, and Zingara Review, among others.

Her books include Signs of Marriage (2022), Intimacy with the Wind (2017), and Mother, One More Thing (2014).  More information about Carla and her work can be found at www.carlapoet.com.