To be free, one size fits all

To stand alone in a wet field, in a damp
Marsh, under a blazing sunset. Cotton candy streaks race
Towards you prepared to strike

Standing alone. Apart. Aside.
There is no freedom in a crowd. Nothing to express
In a collective. No individualism when you are
Butting heads, singular ideas smeared with others
Coloured by logos, rhymed with slogans, brightened
By long forgotten adverts
Entrenched in the reservoir of the mind

And yet who am I to dictate absolutes
To lay down terms and conditions
Shaping freedom, directing expression. Does this not
Make me freedom’s worse enemy?
Yet what is it? Without a framework within
Which to consider ideas,
Where do we start?
Minds are stretched like eternal empty canvases
Prospects of infinity
Impending fears on the contrary
That the elastic might snap
The canvas might break
A little hole. And all is lost.

Sucked into the abyss, our creativity, our uniqueness
Those ideas to die for, passions to kill for.
So in fear we ignore
Subdue, suppress
Follow the lone idiot
Who dares express
The remnants of their own philosophy, a flickering
Candle illuminating the darkness of conformity
That oppressive ambience

That thick dense one-size-fits-all blanket

Is that not our slogan?
Our theme?
The song of our marching band?
It plays with a ring and a stamp
Through adverts.
Buy this product. Go to that club. Travel on that holiday. Indulge at that restaurant. Let’s all do the
Same thing. One size fits all.

Try standing on your own for nothing.
Everyone thinks they are fighting
They think they are fighting against something
Fighting for something
Fighting to change the world
Make it better. Brighter. More identical.
Fighting for an upgrade
What about a downgrade?
Or a strip back?

Try standing on your own for nothing.

In a wet marsh under a blazing sunset. Alone. Look at those things that cannot be mimicked
Understood. Explained.
Doesn’t have a size.
Does it even have a purpose? A reason? A meaning?
Let go off all those trappings.

And then express
Yourself.