Permission, permission, permission. by Mandy Gutsell

Please miss can I go to the toilet?

Please mum can I go out with my friends?

Please may I have some more?

Pleeeeease.

Permission to speak

Permission to be

Permission to be me.

To laugh

To push boundaries

To not be who you want me to be.

To surprise myself

To surprise you

To surprise us.

To be like us,

To be like me

Oh, of course wouldn’t that be just great.

Then you’d understand me exactly,

Or not!

Do I really understand myself fully?

Sometimes yes, but not fully really.

Can we ever understand ourselves completely?

Permission to know

Permission to not know

Permission to do whatever we want

Is that truly possible?

Possible to give yourself permission to do what you want.

What about the others?

Now there’s a question.