Jesus at the gay bar poem
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He occasionally writes essays as well as poetry, and his work has been published in a number of magazines and journals, as well as anthologies by both independent and well-known publishers, including Bloomsbury and the Ladybird imprint of Penguin Random House.
He has been focusing, most recently, on poetry for children and young adults, and the five-poet collection “Rising Stars”, of which he was a part, was Highly Commended in the 2018 CLiPPA awards – the UK’s biggest award for children’s poetry collections.
His most recent collection, “Clouds Cannot Cover Us” is aimed at teenagers, was published by Troika Books in October 2019, and has been nominated for the 2021 Carnegie Medal – ‘the UK’s oldest and best-loved children’s book award’ (their words).
Speaker
As a speaker, he has given a number of high-profile talks, almost all of which also included the performance of one or more of his poems.
He said we were created in “His own image…male and female He created them.” It’s a beautiful thing to remember. Under Levitical law, as it was followed at that time, the woman would have been deemed ‘unclean’ by religious authorities, and she would have been cast out from society for the ‘good’ of that society.
LEVITICUS 15:25-30
If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, for all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness; as in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean.
My profile picture is "David and Me," 2001 painting by artist Steve Walker. Most notably, he’s spoken at 2019’s London Book Fair, the 2018 Children’s Media Conference, and 2017’s TEDx Teen. It is such a beautiful poem and a sentiment that we should all remember: “my beautiful child / there is nothing in this heart of yours / that ever needs to be healed.” Genesis 1:27 tells us, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” It does not say God created man in the image of other men or what other men want you to be.
I think my life will work out the way it was always meant to be. It happens to be one of my favorite modern gay art pieces. Do we see any parallels to queer people and our relationship with some religious authorities today?
And, of course, going back to that section of Leviticus, Jesus should be horrified by the touch of this woman - the Levitical code states that her uncleanliness is passed on by touch, after all - but he is not horrified.
If she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count seven days, and after that she shall be clean. Whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. We will treat every story with the utmost care.
Watch out for our next poem and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and TikTok so you won’t miss a thing!
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Jesus at the Gay Bar
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
—Genesis 1:27
Jesus at the Gay Bar
By Jay Hulme
He’s here in the midst of it –
right at the centre of the dance floor,
robes hitched up to His knees
to make it easy to spin.
At some point in the evening
a boy will touch the hem of His robe
and beg to be healed, beg to be
anything other than this;
and He will reach His arms out,
sweat-damped, and weary from dance.
He’ll cup the boy’s face in His hand
and say,
my beautiful child
there is nothing in this heart of yours
that ever needs to be healed.
About the Poem
I saw this posted on Wilson Cruz’s Instagram (@wcruz73), and it just grabbed my heart and nearly brought tears to my eyes.
That doesn't mean there won't be ups and downs; that's all part of life. is that not quite true?
You see, there is healing in this poem - it's just not the healing you'd expect. He has also taken part in short training courses in order to develop his own practice and educational skills, including a course with the National Literacy Trust focused specifically on working with primary school students, and a course run by Pop-Up Projects and Historic Royal Palaces on the use of heritage sites in literary education and as stimuli for creative writing, something which is very much a passion of his.
Bio was taken from his website.
Website: https://jayhulme.com
Twitter: @JayHulmePoet
Instagram: @jayhulmepoet
About Joe
In the poem, just as in Mark 5, and throughout the Gospels, Jesus does the unexpected (especially if what is 'expected' is the 'letter of the law' as proscribed by religious authorities).
The team has, under his tutelage, won ‘Slam of the North’, and come third in ‘UniSlam’, the UK’s biggest team poetry slam competition.
Jay gained a BA (honours) degree in English Literature and Journalism in 2018, focusing, in his final year, on Victorian Sensation novels, and how they informed and reflected the morality and social mores of mid-19th century British society.
It's a beginning filled with great hope. This commitment does not only manifest in the kinds of entries we publish but also in the identities of the authors and editors we work with.
In simple terms, most of your ili aunties are gay (and very happy about it)!
So, feel free to send us your stories about love and identity, no matter how much you think they deviate from the “norm.” We love breaking nonsense rules!
One more thing we adore is this poem about Love itself by the talented Jay Hulme.
Jesus at the Gay Bar
By Jay Hulme
He’s here in the midst of it –
right at the centre of the dance floor,
robes hitched up to His knees
to make it easy to spin.
At some point in the evening
a boy will touch the hem of His robe
and beg to be healed, beg to be
anything other than this;
and He will reach His arms out,
sweat-damped, and weary from dance.
He’ll cup the boy’s face in His hand
and say,
my beautiful child
there is nothing in this heart of yours
that ever needs to be healed.
Layout and Photo by P.
Orillos / Text by Jay Hulme
Send us stories that show who you are. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’
To understand the parallel more clearly you first have to understand the context behind Mark 5.