Authorization, Shane Schick (December 2025)

Authorization

Every kid going to the museum with their class
had to have their parents sign a photo release form,
in case their picture gets taken and shared. 
Could somebody provide one for me too?
I’m not coming along for this particular outing
but I hereby relinquish all rights to images
of me amid this fifty-plus-years field trip
I seem to be on. Add this clause, though: 
nothing where I’m posing. Record the frowns
when I became less concerned with how
I looked than what I was thinking. Aim the lens
at me from behind, hands deep in pockets,
shoulders hunched and scuffing my shoes.
Shoot some footage of me shaking my head
at people I know, at strangers, at myself. 
Skip social media and blow up the snapshots
until they’re big enough for a gallery wall. 
Edit the video into a documentary about 
a subject other than me – just a few frames.
Let me be the jump cut to something bigger.
Make more sense of all this than I have.