The Story I Told Myself

By Robert Martin

PROMPT—The story I told myself ...

I told myself the quiet was chosen,

not given to me by rooms that forgot my name.

That silence was a skill,

something I practiced like balance

on a narrow rail.

I told myself the door was closed on purpose,

that I had paused my hand an inch from the knob

because waiting looked like wisdom

from a distance.

I told myself the weight I carried

was proof of strength,

not a ledger of things

I never set down.

Each night, I edited the facts—

softened the edges,

rearranged cause and effect

until the ending felt survivable.

I was the patient one.

The reasonable one.

The one who would understand later

why nothing had arrived yet.

But stories grow heavy when repeated.

They start to creak at the joints.

One day the truth shifted, just enough

to let the light in sideways.

The story I told myself

was not a lie.

It was a shelter.

And shelters are meant

to be left

once you remember

how to walk outside.

---

Robert Martin, a Denver native, began writing as therapy after retiring from his career in printing and publishing. His doctor suggested writing to keep his cognitive abilities sharp. Instead of searching for keys, Robert tackles writing challenges, facing procrastination and anxiety about resonating with readers. He is new to poetry, but discovered he loved the beauty of the medium. He tries to write a new poem everyday. He has several short stories published by Nat 1 Publishing, along with an accepted collection of poems and novellas. His first full length young adult novel was accepted in December, 2025.