Permission to Play

I need a break
from the beating of my mind
I grant permission
to adopt a new perspective
in my expression
to write and
perhaps even dare
publish
without constraints

no punctuation
no pressures
to be perfect
no promises of potential
cut for clarity
no expectations
of what a piece must do
or say or be
what message it must carry
who it must serve
or speak for
or speak to

under such heavy weights
nothing thrives
no message can rise
instead
meaning gets lost
in a sea of words
that serve no purpose
other than to feed algorithms
and achieve rankings

what could be
without the rules
if I stripped it all away
what would I discover
what could it become
who would I become

the only way to know
is to play