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