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.