Breaking the Line by Carmen Eichman
I’ve buoyed to the surface,
finally;
it’s been a long dip
into a deep underworld
where paladins turn to dust,
return to sandy bottoms,
their love stale
as rotting seaweed.
My daughter knows such princes,
their disguises, their tactics
how they hook with artifice
through our mouths and hearts
and pull and pull
until we are too weak to fight
unless we know to fight
to break his line.
Author of novel, When the Ugly Comes, Carmen Eichman earned her Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and Literature from Kansas State University and is now an Assistant Professor of English and Honors Chair, living in North Carolina. Eichman’s poetry has appeared in A Little Poetry, All Things Girl, The Argotist Online, Subtle Tea, Invisible Ink, The Dan River Review, Borderline, Thick with Conviction, and Contemporary American Voices to name a few. She is currently at work on her fourth novel and third collection of poetry.
