TWO POEMS
Definitions of a Glory Hole
Found cruising the dictionaries
a small cell in which,
at the court, prisoners
are kept on the day of trial;
a small storeroom within
the hull of a ship, especially
one at the extreme stern;
or quarters of the stewards
or stokers on board a ship;
any locker or enclosed space
for loose gear;
an open cut or funnel-shaped
excavation formed by drawing
off soft or broken ore through
an underground passage;
a Salvation Army meeting place;
a furnace for softening
glass when it becomes stiff
in offhand working and for
polishing glass or an opening
directly in the interior of such
a furnace; see: Bottoming Hole;
a dugout;
any receptacle (as a box
or cupboard) or area into
which odds and ends
are put haphazardly or in
no particular order;
a phallic-sized hole
through a wall or
partition to enable
people to perform
sex acts anonymously;
a gay bar or watering hole
in which glory is found.
Reading Keats in the Cathedral of Learning
I stood tip-toe upon a glory hole
To see how far my cock would dare to crow
That the wet mouth, with anonymous pride,
Would satisfy me from the other side.
Jaw scantly toothed, his finely pointed tongue
Had not yet lost the keenness of the young.
And from the stifled throbbing of my thorn,
The cum was pure and white as Christmas Morn’.
Fresh from the dim tearoom we singly crept
As to ensure our mystery was kept,
But in another stall, a noiseless noise:
Born from the dead sighs of expiring boys.
Michael Bennett (he/him) is a queer writer and educator born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the city and subject he may never escape. Michael holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Chatham University. He teaches teen writers at Pittsburgh's Creative and Performing Arts High School and the Allegheny County Jail. His work has been published at Burning House Press, The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, Homology Lit, and elsewhere. He tweets @PixburghMike