John Anderson Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

Eye contact - the state in which two people are aware of looking directly into one another's eyes.

Eye contact feels good when its a shared experience, otherwise its feels like one person is imposing his visual will on another. 

But just because making eye contact doesn’t come naturally to you, doesn’t mean you should just shrug your shoulders and accept this predisposition.

Gary Numan: "Eye contact is something I find incredibly difficult. I count all the time when I’m talking to someone to make sure I do it right. Anything less than two seconds is considered rude, more than five seconds is too intense, so I have to look away. I worked that out myself. I find conversations incredibly stressful."

Listen to poem:

Eye Contact

Eye to eye contact: A Stratagem

Sneak a glance to test reception.
Try several times.
Once fleeting contact is made, ramp it up.
Move your gaze in a triangle.
Focus on one eye, then the other, then the mouth
Repeat and repeat this, over and over again.
You can't make contact with both eyes at once,
so triangulate.
Any eye contact shorter than two seconds long is considered rude.
Contact longer than five seconds is far too intense for most,
except for lovers who can endlessly 
stand the stare right into their inner being.
Failing to make contact when prompted can also be seen as rude or submissive.
Keep your blink rate normal.
It's OK to break your gaze from time to time,
to share a break in contact.
Look away, to the side, not down, 
as this is too submissive and shameful.
There you have it!
How to have touching eyes that make contact.

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