The Look

It worked for awhile--until one day I walked into a gym and was smiled at by a tall, well-built man with a swinging dick. All he had to do was give me the look and I was ready to switch teams again.

I Say A Little Prayer
E. Lynn Harris

The other day while reading E. Lynn Harris' latest novel, I Say A Little Prayer, I became confused and then a little irritated. It wasn't because the book was bad, but because I kept wondering what this damn look was that Harris kept speaking about. The look that is code to other gay men to let the other know they are "family", down, Dl, gay, etc. This is not the first time I have heard about the look. I remember seeing J.L King on Oprah, when he discussed the DL and how in black churches men often give each other the look. What the hell does the look look like? Is it just a stare? I would assume giving the look to wrong person could lead to a beatdown.

After reading and thinking about the look, I decided to test out my version of the look at the club later on that night. Iarrived fashionably late at about 12 a.m. only to be told by the bouncer at the door that Timbs aren't allowed, but to my suprise, he finished his sentence with, "Since your so clean I'm gonna let u slide." See it pays to be a dope dresser. Me and my posse entered the club and found a spot to post at. I looked around at all the fine specimens walking around and I spotted him, my test dummy. He sported a bald head and wore a black button-up and jeans. He appeared to be alone. He looked familiar and I could have sworn I saw him on Adam4Adam. There are only like 150 men at a time in Saint Louis on Adam4Adam, so its pretty easy to remember faces. It was time to test out this "look". I glanced in his direction a few times, before I made eye contact with him, it was now or never. I squinted my eyes a bit and licked my lips and held my eye contact with him for about 3 secs and turned away. I kid you not, within a 5 minute time period he was standing right behind me. I looked over my shoulder at him and turned back around. I guess he got tired of standing there, because he was soon gone. I wasn't really trying to get to know him or anything, just wanted to see if he would respond to my advances and he did. Maybe this "look" thing has some truth to it.