Thank you NetGalley, Button Poetry, Robert Wood Lynn and team for the free e-copy.

It's not easy for me to rate poetry/diaries because I feel like a big part of it is deeply personal and tends to not make sense to many other than the author themselves. Personally, I write and know that if I were to publish some of my poems, there might be people who wouldn't connect to my experience.

Having said this, that's exactly what happened to me reading this book. I didn't connect with it as profounly as I thought I would after reading the title, the reviews and the blurb. The idea of not maintaining eye contact really pulled me in, but I found it wasn't what I was expecting.

Unfortunately, most of the poems felt like the meaning flew way over my head, and that made it almost nonsensical for me. I grasped some of the ideas th author was communicating, but the way in which they were written confused me.

Nonetheless, there were some poems I understood and connected with like 'the museums of maintenance', 'on wednesday they came on the news' and 'the heartbeat hypothesis'.

Robert's poems might not be for everyone, definitely not for me, since I had a very hard time understanding many of them - in my opinion, it fell a little flat when stablishing a connection to the reader, it was difficult to follow his thoughts almost like a stream of consciousness or many ideas arranged together.

On the one hand, I admired it for what it felt like - almost as if i was reading my notes app where I dump every thought I need to express. On the other hand, I just couldn't keep up with most of the ideas.

Again, thanks for the opportunity to review this. Sadly, it wasn't my cup of tea but it was a good experience and I will definitely give Robert's writing another chance in the future!

Stars: 2.5

Thank you to Button Poetry and Netgalley for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick (and surprising) read, and overall, I really enjoyed it. (Also, the cover is fantastic.)

After reading the blurb, I assumed each section would be broken up into the following categories: "interior uncertainty, interpersonal uncertainty and uncertainty at a larger scale." The collection WAS broken up into three sections, but with different categories. (Note: uncertainty was a major theme in the collection, but I was surprised at how the poems were grouped after reading the blurb. I didn't mind the groupings; it was just surprising considering the language of the description.)

There were a few standouts in the collection, and several beautiful lines worthy of highlighting on an Instagram reel, picture collages and all.

The collection offers a scrapbook of moments in the lives of individual citizens, set against the backdrop of macro issues impacting humanity at large. Even while addressing several heavy topics, the poet was able to endear readers with his irreverence and informality. This made it less of a gloomy, speculative work, and more of a redemptive call to action. (Ecological disaster/ environmental degradation were present themes.)

This may be a great choice for someone is looking to read more poetry; I found the language to be quite accessible. However, multiple re-reads would serve any reader well.

How to Maintain Eye Contact brought a couple of questions to mind:
How do we (as individuals) relate to one another?
What would we miss if the world were to end tomorrow?

I'll ponder.

Parts of this book definitely resonated with me. I did get lost a few times, or maybe didn't quite get the message, but I think that's just part of poetry. I would probably re-read this again, it was a quick read, and I think reading it again might help deepen my understanding. Overall though, I would definitely recommend this to someone that truly enjoys poetry.

This is high quality, thoughtful poetry that also happens to be digestible. I’m here for the obtuse, dark and angular poetry too, but sometimes you want to understand a text. Great book. Enjoyed it

I found this collection of poems to be quite eclectic. While it did delve into aspects of the human condition and experience I feel that it felt a bit jarring along the way and that it had some flow issues connecting all the separate works together. Perhaps that again speaks to aspects of the human condition also being jarring. I did enjoy a few poems as separates from the whole; 'the heartbeat hypothesis', 'on Wednesday they came on the news' and 'inscription for the surface of the moon'. In other poems ('As always' and 'The Side of Parnonas') certain lines evokes imagery that tickled my fancy such as "the light answered with yellow silence'. In part it felt like a stream of consciousness where the audience is talked at rather than invited to contemplate with the author, which may not be for everyone. For me the most memorable part of this anthology were all the seemingly random mentions of cats? Again, might have had deeper meaning that I didn't delve into or maybe the author just really likes cats.

I thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this work via the eARC for free.

Unfortunately, the poetry did not resonate with me very well. It didn’t really hit the mark for me. Despite not being able to relate to the work as a whole, there were minor moments that I understood and could relate on a small level.

I can also appreciate the art and talent that went into the prose of how this was written. It was fun to read, but just not my style.

Thank you netgalley for giving me an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

This poetry collection was very confusing and felt like there was no theme or cohesiveness in it. It felt unedited at times and very disconnected from me, There were names thrown in that I felt like I should know who they were and I had no idea. It may be good for someone, but that person isn't me.

I really loved Mothman Apologia, so I had really high hopes for this, but unfortunately it just didn’t connect with me the way I hoped for. It’s masterful writing, of course, and I did end up going to watch the author’s talk on the James Merrill House Program’s YouTube, so I think I definitely got something out of this book, but sadly it was a bit more behind the scenes than from the poems themselves.

Honestly, this poetry collection just was not for me. I really did not understand any of the poems. They felt kinda thrown together and a lot of them didn't make sense to me. The poems felt rushed to me and I couldn't connect to any of them. I'm sure there is an audience for this, it just wasn't for me, unfortunately.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for eARC in exchange for an honest review!

An enjoyable read. The title caught my eye, and though the collection didn't resonate deeply with me, I still very much enjoyed it:)

Thank you, NetGalley for the chance to read How to Maintain Eye Contact by Robert Wood Lynn.

I am normally a harsh critic when it comes to poetry, but I have to say that I enjoyed this! The structure of some of the poems were so unique and I really loved reading everyone. The way that it portrays day to day life is great and it showed an ironic way of things that happen which we don’t often think about.

The main aspect of the book that caught my eye was the title and the front cover - it looked so cool! I can see some bookstagrammers putting some of this poetry on their stories because of how unique the structure and poetry is. I study English literature and find that poets have a voice that resonates through their work, but unfortunately I didn’t see that here. I wish I could see more of Robert Wood Lynn in his poetry, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the poems.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this adaption of modern poetry.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of "How to Maintain Eye Contact" in exchange for an honest review.

How to Maintain Eye Contact by Robert Wood Lynn is a collection of poems that peaked my interested because the cover was very interesting. This book is a quick insight into the day-to-day life of the author. The authenticity keeps you intrigued while go along this journey.

My personal favorite poems were “Poem ending in a public service announcement” and “After”
“Poem ending in a public service announcement” is exactly what it says, and I respect it.
My favorite quote of the poem was the service announcement. I really did not know this fact, so it helped the public (me) out. “Don’t buy lilies if you keep cats…………. Lilies fuck up their kidneys”

My second favorite poem was “AFTER” specially the words at the end that I clung onto like my favorite indie song from collage “You can kiss me if you want to but if asked, I owe you nothing. Say otherwise we’re goners” LOVEEEEEEEEEEE.

I enjoyed this collection of poems and glad to have read this book to start out my 2023 reading journey.

I was able to review an ARC copy of this book thanks to NetGalley.

How to Maintain Eye Contact is a great contemporary poetry collection for fans of instagram poets like Rupi Kaur, who want something a little different while still accessible with how it handles language. Robert Wood Lynn writes from his own live and reading through the collection I often felt as if I were being spoken to, or maybe more accurately I felt as if I were at a house party listening to him talk from the couch. There's a ease to language that I believe would appeal to a large audience, the poetry is largely written in prose and does not play with abstract concepts, making a easy to read, easy to understand collection.

However from the perspective of a more avid poetry reader, I found Eye Contact to be too impersonal. I could tell his work was personal to an extent- I'm sure the various names, locations, and pop culture references all mean something, what that something means for Lynn evaded me. All poetry is inherently venerable, but these felt reserved, I never got an idea of who the author was personally. Many pieces even felt generic, they could have been written by anyone. This Isn't to say I hated all of them, "On My Way Home From The Hospital" I found especially moving (I even teared up while reading it). I just wish there were more entries like this and less that felt so anonymous.

I didn’t feel a connection to the poems in this collection and they didn’t feel overly memorable. The format didn’t feel thoughtful, it felt kind of rushed.
Not the collection for me unfortunately.

“No one should be named after anything destined to burn out and explode”

This was such a creative collection of poems and I really enjoyed it. They are exactly the kind of poems I love to read!

The themes explored are loneliness, small hopes and uncertainty, and many questions were asked that we probably all ponder in our own lives.

I loved how these poems portrayed the small moments in life and they really resonated with me for this reason.

Well worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for the eARC in exchange for this honest review.

Robert Wood Lynn explores what it means to be human in this collection. The poems that stood out to me were: "ON MY WAY HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL," "ON WEDNESDAY THEY CAME ON THE NEWS," "AFTER ALL THE UNPLEASANTNESS, ARMS HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY FOR THEMSELVES" and "AT THE END OF BEFORE"

Most of the poems above come from the apocalypse section and do a good job of capturing some of the emotions of the pandemic or other life altering events and their aftermath. Most of the other poems unfortunately fell flat for me. It seemed the author wanted to get across their lack of connection with people, and though I understood the sentiment as an anxious introvert, I felt that the poems never fully captured the emotions of it all. I will definitely be checking out other poems by this poet, but this collection is a solid 3 star for me.

This collection was just okay until the final section on apocalypses, which was exceptional. The last third is worth the read.

I think this collection was just not for me. I found the way the poems were written hard to follow. It almost felt like two unrelated lines combined making it difficult to stay connected to what was being described and to connect. While there were a few poems I did enjoy, overall I found it hard to read and did not feel a connection with the work.

How to Maintain Eye Contact
By Robert Wood Lynn
Button Poetry
Publication date: 1/10/23

These narrative poems are broken up into three sections and touch on themes such as loneliness, grief, uncertainty, emotions and socialization, every day experiences and the state of our planet.

Some poems, the way they were written, in disarray, seemed breathless, and, at times, blunt.

It is so hard to rate poetry because it is so subjective. These poems were just not to my liking. All the same, I can appreciate them for the art that they are. I really find that anything Button Poetry puts out is good.

Here are a few lines that jumped out at me:

“You can’t love everything on the food chain the same”
- from I Keep Having This False Memory

“I’m always embarrassed/ how cats are the only way I’ve managed/ to mark time. Define myself/ by what I keep alive or don’t.”
-from Poem Ending in a Public Service Announcement


Thanks to NetGalley, Robert Wood Lynn, and Button Poetry for the opportunity to read and review this work.

Overall, an easy reading, perfect for the end of the year rush. I enjoyed the perspective, even though the poems didn’t speak to me directly.