San Antonio Is: The Poetry of Jason VanBlaricom

By Mike VanBlaricom

When a man dies prematurely and unnaturally, he leaves behind, along with his loved ones who sorely miss him every day, his plans and aspirations which, with rare exception, disintegrate with him into the dust. This posthumous presentation of Jason VanBlaricom's poetry is one of those rare exceptions. Publications in which his works have been previously acclaimed include Caveat Lector, Grain Magazine, Homestead Review, The Poet’s Haven, and Unlikely Stories.

"Jason Van Blaricom’s words want to give the impression that they are simple and straight forward, but they in fact hold a deeper meaning for the reader who is willing to take the time to read between the lines. 'I carried you in my mind until you popped out of my pen,' he writes in Bully. This illustrates how Blaricom uses simple words to convey a not so simple message." - Unlikely Stories

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike VanBlaricom
• Release date: Jul 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310333705

Mike VanBlaricom

For the past twenty years, Mike VanBlaricom has been a full-time genealogist, family researcher and historian. His admitted obsession began with his need to learn all he could about his mother, who died suddenly during a family vacation when he was four years old. His family tree, published on Ancestry.com, has grown to over sixteen thousand people; all of whom are either related by birth or marriage, or are somehow associated with his family.Mr. VanBlaricom was born and raised in Los Angeles County, California; served four years as a bandsman in the U. S. Air Force; graduated the University of Texas, Austin, with a Bachelor of Arts in English; and had a twenty-year career as a professional firefighter. It was not until his retirement that he was able to fully immerse himself in his family history research.His family narratives present not only the mere facts of the peoples' lives - birth, marriage and death - but also stories of where and how they lived, how the events and institutions of the time affected them, and vice versa.His two favorite words are, "I wonder . . ."He resides in Prescott, Arizona with the love of his life.Connect with Mike VanBlaricom Online:Facebook: http://facebook.com/Mike.VanBlaricom.73

Book preview

San Antonio Is

The Poetry of Jason VanBlaricom

by

Mike VanBlaricom

Copyright 2014 Mike VanBlaricom

Published by Mike VanBlaricom at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Unfinished Business

About Jason VanBlaricom

Previously Published Poems

Book One: Bleak

Book Two: The President

Book Three: Want and Glut

Book Four: An American Paycheck

Book Five: Molcajete

Quotes

Jason’s Memorial Page

Excerpts from other ebooks by Mike VanBlaricom

Connect with Mike VanBlaricom

Unfinished Business

When a man dies prematurely and unnaturally, he leaves behind, along with his loved ones who sorely miss him every day, his plans and aspirations which, with rare exception, disintegrate with him into the dust.

This posthumous presentation is one of those rare exceptions; and this is my attempt to help him fulfill, in whatever modest way I can, my son’s goal of publishing his poetry.

As the reader will see a few pages later, this book is not the first of his poetry to be published; nor did he have to depend on the vanity press. Editors whose occupation is to select worthy submissions to their magazines have already accepted him - over and over. This book is the natural extension of his previous successes; and if he had lived longer, he would have added his works to the ever-growing library of ebooks.

I have taken on the task for him - not only because he is my son and I am proud of his writing success - but also because, from my own modest ventures into ebook publishing, I have learned that words that may fall deafly on the ears of the print publishers can get a fair hearing in the realm of ebooks. This is all that Jason asked for.

These opening paragraphs are followed by Jason’s biography. Along with the usual vital statistics, it contains exchanges between Jason and me, via email, wherein he explains with often deeply heartfelt expressions what his plans and aspirations were. (Note: I present the emails here formatted exactly as I received them). Following that is a list of his previously published poetry; and then his newer poetry, where the reader will discover words [that] want to give the impression that they are simple and straight forward, but they in fact hold a deeper meaning for the reader who is willing to take the time to read between the lines. (http://www.unlikelystories.org/old/blaricom.html)

When Jason sent this book of poems to me, he included several pages of quotes gleaned from his extensive reading, and I include that here, too.

Mike VanBlaricom

About Jason VanBlaricom

Jason VanBlaricom, was born in Austin, Texas on May 30, 1974. He lived with his parents and sister in the Austin area until January, 1993, when his parents divorced and he went to live with his mother in San Antonio, Texas.

He became a math tutor, then an adjunct instructor, with the Alamo Colleges; and subsequently earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy.

In 2002 he met Jessica. In December of that year they traveled to Gwang-ju, South Korea where he taught English to elementary school students.

The next I heard from him, they were in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico, having arrived there around June, 2003. While there, Jason wrote little books of poetry that he tried to sell to the tourists.

In the fall of 2003, they moved again; this time to Seattle, where Jessica got work while Jason worked six weeks on a fishing boat out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. On his return, Jason and Jessica were married.

In Seattle, they opened Texican Tacos near the university. It was very successful - too successful for Jason’s taste, taking time away from his writing - and they abandoned it after a month and returned to San Antonio, in January 2004.

Jessica decided to work towards her Master’s degree, so Jason did the same. On August 12, 2006, he earned his Master of Science in Mathematics from the University of Texas, San Antonio.

In June, 2007, Jason was selected as mathematics lecturer at the University of Texas, Brownsville. They bought a 37-foot motorized sail boat, which Jason christened Jessica, where they lived for a time before getting an apartment nearer the campus.

Jason loved that boat and worked on it as his schedule permitted. I believe that Christopher Cross’s 1980 Grammy-winning song, Sailing, captures how Jason felt:

Well, it's not far down to paradise, at least it's not for me ...

Well it's not far back to sanity, ...

And if the wind is right you can sail away and find serenity

Sailing takes me away to where I've always heard it could be

Just a dream and the wind to carry me

And soon I will be free.

"From: Jerzy Mogilski

"To: j and j vanblaricom

"Tuesday, June 12, 2007 11:17:46 AM

"Subject: lecturer position

"Dear Mr. Blaricom:

"The search to fill lecturer positions at our department has been completed and the recommendations have been made. It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been selected for the position. The VPAA office is about to send you an official offer. I hope that you accept the offer. I tried to call you (210) 8183491 but the number seems to be disconnected. Is the address at 84 Bayshore Drive , Ingleside , TX 78362 still correct?

"Best regards,

"Jerzy Mogilski, Ph.D.

Chair and Associate Professor of Mathematics

Department of Mathematics

College of Science, Mathematics and Technology

University of Texas at Brownsville"

"From: j and j vanblaricom

"To: Mike VanBlaricom