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This is where I store all my Prompt Master poems

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#1107243 added February 1, 2026 at 8:25am
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The Mask
I wake each day and dress the part,
buttoned smiles, rehearsed replies,
a mask fitted so well,
no one thinks to ask what’s underneath.

Out there, I am easy.
I laugh on cue, nod at the right moments,
play the role they expect,
reliable, steady, fine.
So convincingly fine.

But inside, there’s a voice
pressed against the walls of my ribs,
knuckles bruised from knocking,
whispering, This isn’t me. Please listen.

The real me lives in the quiet gaps,
between breaths,
behind the eyes when no one’s looking,
in thoughts I swallow before they reach my mouth.
I keep them hidden like contraband hope.

I am fluent in pretending.
I know how to turn pain into humor,
how to shrink longing into small, polite silences,
how to survive without being seen.

Some nights, the inside version of me
paces like a caged animal,
angry not at the world,
but at how easily I learned to disappear,
for its comfort.

I wonder who I’d be
if I let the mask slip just once,
if they’d recognize me,
or if even I would.

So I keep performing,
because it’s safer than truth,
because the world applauds the act,
and never asks for an encore of honesty.

But still, the real me waits,
patient and aching,
believing that one day,
the door will open,
and I’ll finally step out, as myself.


Line Count: 40
Written for: "PromptMaster !" 
Prize Prompt: The thing that contains another thing inside it.
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