Carla Schwartz

What to Take with You:

The pants you wear today—
black jeans. Tie the gray ones
to your back. A book to read
for when you have to wait,
one you can read several times
or start in from anywhere.
Know that the spine
might wear out and break
leaving only a deck of pages.
Leave it behind then,
& the gray pants.

For the long trek—
your most comfortable walking shoes.
Wear a baseball hat
for the relentless sun

The horrors you’ll never forget—
these keep you going when you can’t
take one more step.

Whatever you bring,
tuck the silver mezuzah
into the bottom of your pack.
Kiss it every day,
to know you are home.

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Carla Schwartz’s poems have been widely published, including in The
Practicing Poet, and in her collections Signs of Marriage, Mother, One More Thing, and Intimacy with the Wind. Learn more at
https://carlapoet.com, or https://wakewiththesun.blogspot.com or find her on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Threads, or BlueSky @cb9videos. Recent publications include Banyan Review, Cutthroat, Inquisitive Eater, Paterson Literary Review, New-Verse News, Triggerfish, The MacGuffin, Verse-Virtual Online, and Leon. Carla Schwartz received a 2023 Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant. Her poem, “Pat Schroeder Was Our Mother,” won the NEPC E.E. Cummings Prize.

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