The pressure builds while bouncing in the corner;

Many drift away from the central focus.

Their mind fills with doubt; Are they a foreigner?

Distraction’s power is like hocus pocus.

Weeks moved like years to reach this moment,

Thrust suspicion aside for an endowment. 

The mask removes itself when you begin to breathe,

Allowing the truest skillset to unsheathe. 

Prompted from MMA Storytime’s Rispetto Poetry Prompt Challenge at: https://mmastorytime.com/2020/12/14/mma-storytimes-rispetto-poetry-prompt-challenge-42/.

Prompted from Ragtag Daily Prompt at: https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/12/15/rdp-tuesday-mask/.

Prompted from MMA Storytime’s Word of the Day at: https://mmastorytime.com/2020/12/15/mma-storytimes-word-of-the-day-week/.

Prompted from Three Things Challenge at: https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/2020/12/15/three-things-challenge-448/.