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Jay Hulme

@jayhulmepoet.bsky.social

20K followers 630 following 2.5K posts

Poet. Speaker. Educator. Performer. Adult, YA, and Children's poetry. Occasionally picture books. Lots of posts about churches. Unapologetically trans (he/him) jayhulme.com

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Reposted by Jay Hulme

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 17d

One of the other nuns looked at them when we got back, covered in mud, hands full of bone, and was like "where have you been???" And I was like "I've been leading them into sin, Sister."

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 17d

Took some nuns mudlarking, then watched as they wandered around, hands filled with vertebrae and shards of bone, showing people their finds.

I'm a good influence.

Reposted by Jay Hulme

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 20d

"After he retired to the cave
prayer grew in him like a forest,
sowed its seeds inside his psyche,
rewilded his heart. He didn’t
see that centuries had passed
without him."

A Saint looks up from his prayers to
discover he’s been dead for some time
For St Robert of Knaresborough
By Jay Hulme - from 'The Vanishing Song'

After he retired to the cave
prayer grew in him like a forest,
sowed its seeds inside his psyche,
rewilded his heart. He didn’t
see that centuries had passed
without him.
One day he
looked up, hearing requests for
intercession, and the woods were
older than expected, the riverbanks
shifted by the years —
and as he
knelt before the altar in his hermit's
church, his knees disappeared below
the edges of his emptied grave.

Reposted by Jay Hulme

John Vigar @johnevigar.bsky.social · 20h

Ceiling by Stephen Dykes Bower in Hambledon church, Hampshire

Reposted by Jay Hulme

Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 1d

Was at Chester Cathedral last week for the Centring the Past project, which sought to understand the lost, poorly-documented timber centres for medieval masonry vaults.

This hand-carved frame recreating that of the Chester Chapter House vestibule vaults struck quite a profile on the Dean's Field.

Oak timber frame (essentially two intersecting King Post trusses, but apparently calling that bit in the centre a king post gets carpenters very mad) sat on work benches. The stonework is 3D printed and the tas-de-charge are mostly strapped to them. The voussoirs and boss wait to be added

Study day attendees have now added the voussoirs and boss to the frame

view of the frame from the central tower roof of Chester Cathedral

the frame from the northern part of the medieval city walls

Reposted by Jay Hulme

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 2d

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

Reposted by Jay Hulme

👻madeline boOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 2d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

Sir Gilbert Scott restoration.

Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 2d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

Manuscript lost in fire.

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 5d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

Reposted by Jay Hulme

Grim Deyn @shortestwitch.bsky.social · 5d

Told a bunch of writers that they (and a bunch of their younger fellows) were being taught by a convicted stalker who previously stalked another writer for *fifteen years*, but apparently that's fine and we should move on and not gossip 🙃🙃🙃🙃

Reposted by Jay Hulme

Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 2d

Sed contra: Advent is traditionally a time for contemplating death, judgement, heaven, and hell, and thus a Kendal Mint Cake Advent Calendar is far more seemly than most of the “little treat” type of Advent Calendars.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

I keep getting adverts for a Kendal Mint Cake Advent Calendar, and as someone who has choked down vast quantities of Kendal Mint Cake while dangerously close to hypothermia, on an exposed cliff in a storm, desperately inching towards a safe place to stop and camp... I cannot think of anything worse.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

Is this the difference? Alcohol based Vs... I'm guessing... Water based... Ink?

Amazing!

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

For me, the mint cake is for the moments of disaster. My standard snack is a snickers if it's not gonna melt, and some homemade raisin/nut/seed mix by the absolute HANDFUL

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

I absolutely detest that you're right.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

Literally JUST mint flavoured sugar.

Ingredients
Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Fondant (sugar, glucose syrup, water) Oil of peppermint, Electrolytes (potassium chloride, calcium lactate, sodium chloride, magnesium carbonate), B Vitamin Blend (Nicotinamide [B3], Calcium Pantothenate [B5], Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [B6], Methylcobalamin [B12])
Gluten Free, Vegan.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

A Kendal Mint Cake Advent Calendar is a genuinely deranged product. Like. You know things have got BAD on a hike when the Kendal Mint Cake comes out.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

Like? Do I want to prepare for Christmas by eating a pretty unappetising bar of mint flavoured sugar every day for a month, while being reminded about a time I legitimately thought I was going to die?

No. No I don't. Weirdly enough.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

I keep getting adverts for a Kendal Mint Cake Advent Calendar, and as someone who has choked down vast quantities of Kendal Mint Cake while dangerously close to hypothermia, on an exposed cliff in a storm, desperately inching towards a safe place to stop and camp... I cannot think of anything worse.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

I almost never do colouring in. Is this normal now? Am I simply behind the times? Or is this as amazing as it feels to me?

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 2d

Did some colouring in and could only find the Sharpies I'd bought for a workshop I'd run a few weeks ago, and... I've never coloured in with a pen that doesn't go all weird and Streaky? What is this? Uniform? Colour? Is it? Magic?

A coloured in floral pattern. The colours are uniform and not streaky

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 3d

A VERY relaxing looking space!

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 3d

I mean there's some high church Anglicans who very much don't go for the feminism and gay rights. I'm in the "liberal catholic" bit, but it very much does exist and is thriving.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 3d

There's a lot of nuance but it's basically all of the aesthetic, none of the guilt (and a shovel-load of feminism and gay rights).

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 3d

Yeah, I'm just "high church CofE, which means I love me a candle and an icon and various other stuff people think of as "Roman Catholic".

I'm actually one of the (really annoying) Anglicans who will say "I'm not Protestant, I'm reformed Catholic" when asked if they're protestant.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 3d

If you ARE Christian then I recommend you get yourself an icon, or a cross if you prefer, and a candle. 10/10. Love me something to focus my gaze on as I contemplate in semi-darkness. Don't make it tooooo cluttered, though. You want a focal point, not a distraction.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 3d

"but I'm not Christian..." Neither are most of my friends. Make space. Make a clear physical commitment. You'll find that what you need will soon come.

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 3d

My friends are like "I can't connect with/find time for my faith right now, do you have any advice?" and I'm like "make a space for prayer/meditation in your home. Don't care if it's a room or a corner or just part of a shelf. Put physical space aside for it, and the mental space you need will come.

A prayer corner under an eaves roof, there's a flock of paper doves on the back wall, in front is a table with two books, an icon, and two lot candles on it. Hanging over the wall is a wooden cross. There's a kneeler below.

Reposted by Jay Hulme

Sathnam Sanghera @sathnam.bsky.social · 5d

In @thetimes.com letters page today