Boy Scouts

Kevin went from tent
to tent. He waved a pocket
flashlight back and forth,
untied the flap and pushed

his head through the opening.
Anybody for a blow job,
only fifty cents? Joey,
my best friend, unzipped

his sleeping bag, flipped him
two quarters. I turned over,
kept my back to them, tried not
to listen: gentle kissing sounds, fast

uneven breathing. I felt my eyes start
to cry and my cock get hard.

First published in New York Quarterly

Tony Gloeggler is a life-long resident of New York City and has managed group homes for the mentally challenged in Brooklyn for over 40 years. His work has appeared in Rattle, Poet Lore, New Ohio Review, Spillway, Nerve Cowboy, and Misfit. His full-length books include One Wish Left (Pavement Saw Press 2002) and Until The Last Light Leaves (NYQ Books 2015). His next book What Kind of Man will be published by NYQ Books in 2020