Jaedon Blocker, sophomore early education major, expresses his passion for poetry as he becomes a published author at the young age of 21. 

“It was actually first through music, listening to lyrics and stuff is kind of what originally got me into writing poetry,” Blocker said.

Some of the musical artists that Blocker found inspiration in were Ryan O’Neal from a band called Sleeping at Last, rapper NF and Tyler Joseph from Twenty-One Pilots. 

His first book is called “Maybe Someday, Maybe Someday” and is about Blocker’s life as he went through dark times. 

“A lot of times my poetry is just kind of a way of journaling,” Blocker said. “It’s very personal stuff most of the time, but also just sometimes other things I experience or see.”

Publishing a poetry book about his personal experiences was difficult for Blocker, but ultimately he decided to create a new outlet from it. 

“All that stuff that’s in that book was often written just for myself, before I ever even thought about publishing it,” Blocker said. “A lot of the artists I listen to have very personal, vulnerable kind of songs so seeing them doing that kind of was inspiration to me.”

Blocker’s uncle, Carlos Velez, works for a company called Draft2Digital, which is initially how the publishing process got started for Blocker. Then Top City Records officially published his book. 

Velez was a big factor in Blocker getting his book published as he is also into poetry and had published poetry in the past. 

“After I published my first poetry book, I showed it to him, and then I was like ‘When’s yours coming?’’’ Velez said. 

Blocker wrote his first book in high school with no intention of making it into a book. 

“It’s a scary feeling, but also amazing,” Blocker said. 

So far there are two other books in his series. The second book is finished but not published. Blocker hopes to publish the second book early next year. 

“This first book was written when I was in a really dark place. So, it’s a lot of negative stuff and personal struggles,” Blocker said. “The second one is me working through all that and trying to get it to a better place with myself.”

The third book is currently being drafted with some of the poems completed. 

“The third one is trying to help others deal with whatever they’re going through,” Blocker said. 

Velez is proud of his nephew for following his passions and publishing a book that is personal to him. 

“I love it. I think it’s for everyone, like I think that there’s a lot of power in writing and self expression, and poetry is sort of the most vulnerable act of writing,” Velez said. “I think that has a lot of power to heal and grow through that process and I think it’s pretty evident with his first two books, that process has done that for him.”

Velez describes how writing has changed Blocker. 

“You can see it in his more recent poetry, a growth and healing, and a looking outward towards the world and the people around him,” Velez said. 

While poetry has kept Blocker’s focus for a while, he is interested in pursuing other types of writing in his future. 

“I hope, at some point, to start doing short stories and maybe even full books,” Blocker said. 

Outside of poetry, Blocker likes running, art, soccer and working at a school teaching preschool. 

“One of the most rewarding things for me is just seeing the kids’ different personalities come out,” Blocker said. 

Through working at the preschool, Blocker met his friend Caroline Chiddix, sophomore early education major. 

“Jaedon is very shy, but also has the biggest heart,” Chiddix said. “He is very dedicated to his job, he’s very thorough in his work. He really cares about people although he’s very shy.”

Chiddix describes a mix of emotions as she is happy for Blocker, but his work makes her emotional at times because of the personal subject matter. 

“It makes me so happy to see him being so happy honestly, and seeing how much he’s able to write and express himself through these since he’s not someone who will necessarily talk about his feelings,” Chiddix said. “Through his writing, you can really tell who he is and what he cares about. 

There are many places to buy Blocker’s poetry books such as Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jeremy Ford