#tombajoras — Public Fediverse posts

“Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)” by Nicole Victoria Onofrei

Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)

Tom Bajoras was an American composer, pianist, storyteller, and poet from Los Angeles, California, who described himself as someone who loved “making beautiful things, and making things beautiful”. 

Tom Bajoras passed away at the end of June, following an 11½-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer. His passing has left a huge hole in the hearts of all those who loved him and had the privilege of knowing him. Yet, alongside the sadness, a lasting legacy remains: the traces of Tom’s music and poetry, which will continue to live on and keep his memory alive. His music is still there to be heard on YouTube and Spotify, and in his songs and poetry you can find so much of the person he was. His music tells his story, shares his thoughts and feelings, and offers a lasting glimpse into the wonderful man behind the words. 

At the end of May, he was excited to share his latest composition, “Our book, open halfway Through,” with his friends on social media as a gift for his wife, Lisa, on their 20th wedding anniversary. He wrote,

The piece is a narrative work based on our marriage. It features six themes representing different emotional states. Three of these are from pieces I previously wrote for her: “Butterfly & Tiger,” “Wedding Processional,” and “Bells”, while the other three are new. Throughout the piece, two themes often occur simultaneously to communicate various combinations of emotions. Additionally, I used a floating barline and frequent meter changes to represent the uncertainty of life and marriage. The title refers to a poem by Wisława Szymborska: ‘Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.’ To me, this suggests that all moments of our lives are connected; in a mindfully lived life, we never close the book, but welcome the next page while being grateful for the last. This felt like the perfect description of our marriage.

In an interview for “Victoria in Verse Show” at Bloomsbury Radio in 2022, he said that growing up, he always knew that he wanted to be a composer or a linguist, but when he got to college, he majored in chemical engineering, which was selected almost randomly from a list of “practical” possibilities. Tom used to invent languages. He also invented some writing systems, one of which he was still somewhat fluent in. He had a deep respect for language, both in writing and in speaking, and believed in using it correctly. He knew the ordinal position of each letter in the alphabet: for example, Q was the 17th letter. For Tom, poetry was a way of connecting, a way of reaching out through words and sharing feelings with others. He believed words could bridge distances and bring people closer together. Reading poetry offered him that same connection, transporting him to another place or another moment in time, where he could share in the emotions and experiences of others.

Tom loved Haiku poetry, so he was so happy when some of his beautiful haiku poems were published by Literary Revelations in a couple of Anthologies in 2025.

Nothing nourishes
Like the night sky and silence – 
I swallow the stars

He confessed, “Strangely, I tend to write more poetry, not less, during terrible times. For example, I wrote this haiku a few years ago when I was going through cancer treatment. It also seems appropriate for right now.”

Suffering cannot
Defeat us; it just gives us
More reasons to write.

On March 28, 2025, he published this poem.

Galaxies and Poems

by Tom Bajoras

In a galaxy not far enough away,
in the darkest foulest alley of space—
the smoky stench of red giants
roasting their own children,
the screams of atoms dismantled
by black hole assassins.
Somewhere in this low-rent cosmic real estate,
a yellow dwarf has, on a leash,
a little pet named Earth.

Gazing at the night sky, I browse

the stars and nebulae,
each one a poem
longing to be read.
A philosopher on Gliese 12b,
pen in claw, transcribing
the music of the spheres,
will never hear my voice.
On the universe’s endless page,
“I” appears only in line ten,
and everything else
is something else.

Our hearts are with his wonderful wife, Lisa, and his family during this difficult time. Lisa joined “Learn Advocate Connect Neuroendocrine Tumor Society” (LACNETs) as Program Director a few years after Tom’s diagnosis in 2015, and together, they have helped and supported hundreds of patients and loved ones affected by Neuroendocrine cancer.

Finally, to paraphrase the title of one of his songs, “Surprised by Beauty”, we trust that he is now surprised by the beauty of Paradise, a beauty even greater than anything he could have imagined, and where his soul now belongs.

In honor of his memory, we can listen to his music and celebrate the beautiful work he left behind on his YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHXjXGo38oM

Rest in peace, Tom. You will never be forgotten.

Copyright © 2026 Nicole Victoria Onofrei
All Rights Reserved

Nicole Victoria Onofrei is a Romanian-born, British-based producer of the award-winning poetry show “Victoria In Verse” on Bloomsbury Radio London. In 2022, she received the “Best Student Radio Show” award from the Bloomsbury Institute. This honor recognized her high-profile global guests, the high-class poetic conversations, and the show’s great cultural impact worldwide.

Listen to “Victoria In Verse,” an award-winning poetry show, every Monday at 7 pm, London time. (Note added by B. Leonhard)

Please like and comment. Submit and subscribe for more great reads!

https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/

“Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)” by Nicole Victoria Onofrei

Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)

Tom Bajoras was an American composer, pianist, storyteller, and poet from Los Angeles, California, who described himself as someone who loved “making beautiful things, and making things beautiful”. 

Tom Bajoras passed away at the end of June, following an 11½-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer. His passing has left a huge hole in the hearts of all those who loved him and had the privilege of knowing him. Yet, alongside the sadness, a lasting legacy remains: the traces of Tom’s music and poetry, which will continue to live on and keep his memory alive. His music is still there to be heard on YouTube and Spotify, and in his songs and poetry you can find so much of the person he was. His music tells his story, shares his thoughts and feelings, and offers a lasting glimpse into the wonderful man behind the words. 

At the end of May, he was excited to share his latest composition, “Our book, open halfway Through,” with his friends on social media as a gift for his wife, Lisa, on their 20th wedding anniversary. He wrote,

The piece is a narrative work based on our marriage. It features six themes representing different emotional states. Three of these are from pieces I previously wrote for her: “Butterfly & Tiger,” “Wedding Processional,” and “Bells”, while the other three are new. Throughout the piece, two themes often occur simultaneously to communicate various combinations of emotions. Additionally, I used a floating barline and frequent meter changes to represent the uncertainty of life and marriage. The title refers to a poem by Wisława Szymborska: ‘Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.’ To me, this suggests that all moments of our lives are connected; in a mindfully lived life, we never close the book, but welcome the next page while being grateful for the last. This felt like the perfect description of our marriage.

In an interview for “Victoria in Verse Show” at Bloomsbury Radio in 2022, he said that growing up, he always knew that he wanted to be a composer or a linguist, but when he got to college, he majored in chemical engineering, which was selected almost randomly from a list of “practical” possibilities. Tom used to invent languages. He also invented some writing systems, one of which he was still somewhat fluent in. He had a deep respect for language, both in writing and in speaking, and believed in using it correctly. He knew the ordinal position of each letter in the alphabet: for example, Q was the 17th letter. For Tom, poetry was a way of connecting, a way of reaching out through words and sharing feelings with others. He believed words could bridge distances and bring people closer together. Reading poetry offered him that same connection, transporting him to another place or another moment in time, where he could share in the emotions and experiences of others.

Tom loved Haiku poetry, so he was so happy when some of his beautiful haiku poems were published by Literary Revelations in a couple of Anthologies in 2025.

Nothing nourishes
Like the night sky and silence – 
I swallow the stars

He confessed, “Strangely, I tend to write more poetry, not less, during terrible times. For example, I wrote this haiku a few years ago when I was going through cancer treatment. It also seems appropriate for right now.”

Suffering cannot
Defeat us; it just gives us
More reasons to write.

On March 28, 2025, he published this poem.

Galaxies and Poems

by Tom Bajoras

In a galaxy not far enough away,
in the darkest foulest alley of space—
the smoky stench of red giants
roasting their own children,
the screams of atoms dismantled
by black hole assassins.
Somewhere in this low-rent cosmic real estate,
a yellow dwarf has, on a leash,
a little pet named Earth.

Gazing at the night sky, I browse

the stars and nebulae,
each one a poem
longing to be read.
A philosopher on Gliese 12b,
pen in claw, transcribing
the music of the spheres,
will never hear my voice.
On the universe’s endless page,
“I” appears only in line ten,
and everything else
is something else.

Our hearts are with his wonderful wife, Lisa, and his family during this difficult time. Lisa joined “Learn Advocate Connect Neuroendocrine Tumor Society” (LACNETs) as Program Director a few years after Tom’s diagnosis in 2015, and together, they have helped and supported hundreds of patients and loved ones affected by Neuroendocrine cancer.

Finally, to paraphrase the title of one of his songs, “Surprised by Beauty”, we trust that he is now surprised by the beauty of Paradise, a beauty even greater than anything he could have imagined, and where his soul now belongs.

In honor of his memory, we can listen to his music and celebrate the beautiful work he left behind on his YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHXjXGo38oM

Rest in peace, Tom. You will never be forgotten.

Copyright © 2026 Nicole Victoria Onofrei
All Rights Reserved

Nicole Victoria Onofrei is a Romanian-born, British-based producer of the award-winning poetry show “Victoria In Verse” on Bloomsbury Radio London. In 2022, she received the “Best Student Radio Show” award from the Bloomsbury Institute. This honor recognized her high-profile global guests, the high-class poetic conversations, and the show’s great cultural impact worldwide.

Listen to “Victoria In Verse,” an award-winning poetry show, every Monday at 7 pm, London time. (Note added by B. Leonhard)

Please like and comment. Submit and subscribe for more great reads!

https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/

“Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)” by Nicole Victoria Onofrei

Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)

Tom Bajoras was an American composer, pianist, storyteller, and poet from Los Angeles, California, who described himself as someone who loved “making beautiful things, and making things beautiful”. 

Tom Bajoras passed away at the end of June, following an 11½-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer. His passing has left a huge hole in the hearts of all those who loved him and had the privilege of knowing him. Yet, alongside the sadness, a lasting legacy remains: the traces of Tom’s music and poetry, which will continue to live on and keep his memory alive. His music is still there to be heard on YouTube and Spotify, and in his songs and poetry you can find so much of the person he was. His music tells his story, shares his thoughts and feelings, and offers a lasting glimpse into the wonderful man behind the words. 

At the end of May, he was excited to share his latest composition, “Our book, open halfway Through,” with his friends on social media as a gift for his wife, Lisa, on their 20th wedding anniversary. He wrote,

The piece is a narrative work based on our marriage. It features six themes representing different emotional states. Three of these are from pieces I previously wrote for her: “Butterfly & Tiger,” “Wedding Processional,” and “Bells”, while the other three are new. Throughout the piece, two themes often occur simultaneously to communicate various combinations of emotions. Additionally, I used a floating barline and frequent meter changes to represent the uncertainty of life and marriage. The title refers to a poem by Wisława Szymborska: ‘Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.’ To me, this suggests that all moments of our lives are connected; in a mindfully lived life, we never close the book, but welcome the next page while being grateful for the last. This felt like the perfect description of our marriage.

In an interview for “Victoria in Verse Show” at Bloomsbury Radio in 2022, he said that growing up, he always knew that he wanted to be a composer or a linguist, but when he got to college, he majored in chemical engineering, which was selected almost randomly from a list of “practical” possibilities. Tom used to invent languages. He also invented some writing systems, one of which he was still somewhat fluent in. He had a deep respect for language, both in writing and in speaking, and believed in using it correctly. He knew the ordinal position of each letter in the alphabet: for example, Q was the 17th letter. For Tom, poetry was a way of connecting, a way of reaching out through words and sharing feelings with others. He believed words could bridge distances and bring people closer together. Reading poetry offered him that same connection, transporting him to another place or another moment in time, where he could share in the emotions and experiences of others.

Tom loved Haiku poetry, so he was so happy when some of his beautiful haiku poems were published by Literary Revelations in a couple of Anthologies in 2025.

Nothing nourishes
Like the night sky and silence – 
I swallow the stars

He confessed, “Strangely, I tend to write more poetry, not less, during terrible times. For example, I wrote this haiku a few years ago when I was going through cancer treatment. It also seems appropriate for right now.”

Suffering cannot
Defeat us; it just gives us
More reasons to write.

On March 28, 2025, he published this poem.

Galaxies and Poems

by Tom Bajoras

In a galaxy not far enough away,
in the darkest foulest alley of space—
the smoky stench of red giants
roasting their own children,
the screams of atoms dismantled
by black hole assassins.
Somewhere in this low-rent cosmic real estate,
a yellow dwarf has, on a leash,
a little pet named Earth.

Gazing at the night sky, I browse

the stars and nebulae,
each one a poem
longing to be read.
A philosopher on Gliese 12b,
pen in claw, transcribing
the music of the spheres,
will never hear my voice.
On the universe’s endless page,
“I” appears only in line ten,
and everything else
is something else.

Our hearts are with his wonderful wife, Lisa, and his family during this difficult time. Lisa joined “Learn Advocate Connect Neuroendocrine Tumor Society” (LACNETs) as Program Director a few years after Tom’s diagnosis in 2015, and together, they have helped and supported hundreds of patients and loved ones affected by Neuroendocrine cancer.

Finally, to paraphrase the title of one of his songs, “Surprised by Beauty”, we trust that he is now surprised by the beauty of Paradise, a beauty even greater than anything he could have imagined, and where his soul now belongs.

In honor of his memory, we can listen to his music and celebrate the beautiful work he left behind on his YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHXjXGo38oM

Rest in peace, Tom. You will never be forgotten.

Copyright © 2026 Nicole Victoria Onofrei
All Rights Reserved

Nicole Victoria Onofrei is a Romanian-born, British-based producer of the award-winning poetry show “Victoria In Verse” on Bloomsbury Radio London. In 2022, she received the “Best Student Radio Show” award from the Bloomsbury Institute. This honor recognized her high-profile global guests, the high-class poetic conversations, and the show’s great cultural impact worldwide.

Listen to “Victoria In Verse,” an award-winning poetry show, every Monday at 7 pm, London time. (Note added by B. Leonhard)

Please like and comment. Submit and subscribe for more great reads!

https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/

“Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)” by Nicole Victoria Onofrei

Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)

Tom Bajoras was an American composer, pianist, storyteller, and poet from Los Angeles, California, who described himself as someone who loved “making beautiful things, and making things beautiful”. 

Tom Bajoras passed away at the end of June, following an 11½-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer. His passing has left a huge hole in the hearts of all those who loved him and had the privilege of knowing him. Yet, alongside the sadness, a lasting legacy remains: the traces of Tom’s music and poetry, which will continue to live on and keep his memory alive. His music is still there to be heard on YouTube and Spotify, and in his songs and poetry you can find so much of the person he was. His music tells his story, shares his thoughts and feelings, and offers a lasting glimpse into the wonderful man behind the words. 

At the end of May, he was excited to share his latest composition, “Our book, open halfway Through,” with his friends on social media as a gift for his wife, Lisa, on their 20th wedding anniversary. He wrote,

The piece is a narrative work based on our marriage. It features six themes representing different emotional states. Three of these are from pieces I previously wrote for her: “Butterfly & Tiger,” “Wedding Processional,” and “Bells”, while the other three are new. Throughout the piece, two themes often occur simultaneously to communicate various combinations of emotions. Additionally, I used a floating barline and frequent meter changes to represent the uncertainty of life and marriage. The title refers to a poem by Wisława Szymborska: ‘Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.’ To me, this suggests that all moments of our lives are connected; in a mindfully lived life, we never close the book, but welcome the next page while being grateful for the last. This felt like the perfect description of our marriage.

In an interview for “Victoria in Verse Show” at Bloomsbury Radio in 2022, he said that growing up, he always knew that he wanted to be a composer or a linguist, but when he got to college, he majored in chemical engineering, which was selected almost randomly from a list of “practical” possibilities. Tom used to invent languages. He also invented some writing systems, one of which he was still somewhat fluent in. He had a deep respect for language, both in writing and in speaking, and believed in using it correctly. He knew the ordinal position of each letter in the alphabet: for example, Q was the 17th letter. For Tom, poetry was a way of connecting, a way of reaching out through words and sharing feelings with others. He believed words could bridge distances and bring people closer together. Reading poetry offered him that same connection, transporting him to another place or another moment in time, where he could share in the emotions and experiences of others.

Tom loved Haiku poetry, so he was so happy when some of his beautiful haiku poems were published by Literary Revelations in a couple of Anthologies in 2025.

Nothing nourishes
Like the night sky and silence – 
I swallow the stars

He confessed, “Strangely, I tend to write more poetry, not less, during terrible times. For example, I wrote this haiku a few years ago when I was going through cancer treatment. It also seems appropriate for right now.”

Suffering cannot
Defeat us; it just gives us
More reasons to write.

On March 28, 2025, he published this poem.

Galaxies and Poems

by Tom Bajoras

In a galaxy not far enough away,
in the darkest foulest alley of space—
the smoky stench of red giants
roasting their own children,
the screams of atoms dismantled
by black hole assassins.
Somewhere in this low-rent cosmic real estate,
a yellow dwarf has, on a leash,
a little pet named Earth.

Gazing at the night sky, I browse

the stars and nebulae,
each one a poem
longing to be read.
A philosopher on Gliese 12b,
pen in claw, transcribing
the music of the spheres,
will never hear my voice.
On the universe’s endless page,
“I” appears only in line ten,
and everything else
is something else.

Our hearts are with his wonderful wife, Lisa, and his family during this difficult time. Lisa joined “Learn Advocate Connect Neuroendocrine Tumor Society” (LACNETs) as Program Director a few years after Tom’s diagnosis in 2015, and together, they have helped and supported hundreds of patients and loved ones affected by Neuroendocrine cancer.

Finally, to paraphrase the title of one of his songs, “Surprised by Beauty”, we trust that he is now surprised by the beauty of Paradise, a beauty even greater than anything he could have imagined, and where his soul now belongs.

In honor of his memory, we can listen to his music and celebrate the beautiful work he left behind on his YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHXjXGo38oM

Rest in peace, Tom. You will never be forgotten.

Copyright © 2026 Nicole Victoria Onofrei
All Rights Reserved

Nicole Victoria Onofrei is a Romanian-born, British-based producer of the award-winning poetry show “Victoria In Verse” on Bloomsbury Radio London. In 2022, she received the “Best Student Radio Show” award from the Bloomsbury Institute. This honor recognized her high-profile global guests, the high-class poetic conversations, and the show’s great cultural impact worldwide.

Listen to “Victoria In Verse,” an award-winning poetry show, every Monday at 7 pm, London time. (Note added by B. Leonhard)

Please like and comment. Submit and subscribe for more great reads!

https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/

“Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)” by Nicole Victoria Onofrei

Remembering Tom Bajoras (1960-2026)

Tom Bajoras was an American composer, pianist, storyteller, and poet from Los Angeles, California, who described himself as someone who loved “making beautiful things, and making things beautiful”. 

Tom Bajoras passed away at the end of June, following an 11½-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer. His passing has left a huge hole in the hearts of all those who loved him and had the privilege of knowing him. Yet, alongside the sadness, a lasting legacy remains: the traces of Tom’s music and poetry, which will continue to live on and keep his memory alive. His music is still there to be heard on YouTube and Spotify, and in his songs and poetry you can find so much of the person he was. His music tells his story, shares his thoughts and feelings, and offers a lasting glimpse into the wonderful man behind the words. 

At the end of May, he was excited to share his latest composition, “Our book, open halfway Through,” with his friends on social media as a gift for his wife, Lisa, on their 20th wedding anniversary. He wrote,

The piece is a narrative work based on our marriage. It features six themes representing different emotional states. Three of these are from pieces I previously wrote for her: “Butterfly & Tiger,” “Wedding Processional,” and “Bells”, while the other three are new. Throughout the piece, two themes often occur simultaneously to communicate various combinations of emotions. Additionally, I used a floating barline and frequent meter changes to represent the uncertainty of life and marriage. The title refers to a poem by Wisława Szymborska: ‘Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.’ To me, this suggests that all moments of our lives are connected; in a mindfully lived life, we never close the book, but welcome the next page while being grateful for the last. This felt like the perfect description of our marriage.

In an interview for “Victoria in Verse Show” at Bloomsbury Radio in 2022, he said that growing up, he always knew that he wanted to be a composer or a linguist, but when he got to college, he majored in chemical engineering, which was selected almost randomly from a list of “practical” possibilities. Tom used to invent languages. He also invented some writing systems, one of which he was still somewhat fluent in. He had a deep respect for language, both in writing and in speaking, and believed in using it correctly. He knew the ordinal position of each letter in the alphabet: for example, Q was the 17th letter. For Tom, poetry was a way of connecting, a way of reaching out through words and sharing feelings with others. He believed words could bridge distances and bring people closer together. Reading poetry offered him that same connection, transporting him to another place or another moment in time, where he could share in the emotions and experiences of others.

Tom loved Haiku poetry, so he was so happy when some of his beautiful haiku poems were published by Literary Revelations in a couple of Anthologies in 2025.

Nothing nourishes
Like the night sky and silence – 
I swallow the stars

He confessed, “Strangely, I tend to write more poetry, not less, during terrible times. For example, I wrote this haiku a few years ago when I was going through cancer treatment. It also seems appropriate for right now.”

Suffering cannot
Defeat us; it just gives us
More reasons to write.

On March 28, 2025, he published this poem.

Galaxies and Poems

by Tom Bajoras

In a galaxy not far enough away,
in the darkest foulest alley of space—
the smoky stench of red giants
roasting their own children,
the screams of atoms dismantled
by black hole assassins.
Somewhere in this low-rent cosmic real estate,
a yellow dwarf has, on a leash,
a little pet named Earth.

Gazing at the night sky, I browse

the stars and nebulae,
each one a poem
longing to be read.
A philosopher on Gliese 12b,
pen in claw, transcribing
the music of the spheres,
will never hear my voice.
On the universe’s endless page,
“I” appears only in line ten,
and everything else
is something else.

Our hearts are with his wonderful wife, Lisa, and his family during this difficult time. Lisa joined “Learn Advocate Connect Neuroendocrine Tumor Society” (LACNETs) as Program Director a few years after Tom’s diagnosis in 2015, and together, they have helped and supported hundreds of patients and loved ones affected by Neuroendocrine cancer.

Finally, to paraphrase the title of one of his songs, “Surprised by Beauty”, we trust that he is now surprised by the beauty of Paradise, a beauty even greater than anything he could have imagined, and where his soul now belongs.

In honor of his memory, we can listen to his music and celebrate the beautiful work he left behind on his YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHXjXGo38oM

Rest in peace, Tom. You will never be forgotten.

Copyright © 2026 Nicole Victoria Onofrei
All Rights Reserved

Nicole Victoria Onofrei is a Romanian-born, British-based producer of the award-winning poetry show “Victoria In Verse” on Bloomsbury Radio London. In 2022, she received the “Best Student Radio Show” award from the Bloomsbury Institute. This honor recognized her high-profile global guests, the high-class poetic conversations, and the show’s great cultural impact worldwide.

Listen to “Victoria In Verse,” an award-winning poetry show, every Monday at 7 pm, London time. (Note added by B. Leonhard)

Please like and comment. Submit and subscribe for more great reads!

https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/