Aarik Danielsen (he/him)
@aarikdanielsen
Debut essay collection PIECES OF THE NIGHT forthcoming (Cornerstone Press, 2027) Recovering newspaperman “Realist of a larger reality” Promised to Holly Wants to be with you alone and talk about the weather SF Giants fan
and some favorite reads from the young year that weren't published in '26: another word for love by carvell wallace the winter of our discontent by john steinbeck the catcher in the rye by j.d. salinger eileen by ottessa moshfegh hydra medusa by brandon shimoda
not gonna make a lit list till year's end, but here are a few of my favorite 2026 reads to date: the left and the lucky by willy vlautin mountebank by @tomsnarsky.bsky.social horses by jake skeets be easy by adrian matejka eradication by jonathan miles discipline by larissa pham
sleazy Saturday night at the Pelesky-Danielsen household (tag yourself, I’m Rainy Days and Mondays et al)
Listening to Harlem River Blues and reading @jonbern.bsky.social excellent bio of the man and, man, i miss JT Earle
my favorite albums of june 2026, alphabetical by artist: deer tick, coin-o-matic feeble little horse, bitknot futurebirds, far out country i olivia rodrigo, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love vince staples, cry baby
"Tracks without trains passing over them have a mysterious silence all their own." (Murakami)
"There was a time only certainty gave me any joy. Imagine— certainty, a dead thing." (Louise Glück)
i'll be listening to the big-ticket albums out today (death cab, modest mouse, vince staples) but i've started my friday with new records from three underrated bands, all of them sublime: futurebirds :: far out country i deer tick :: coin-o-matic widowspeak :: roses do yourself the favor(s)
my fave albums of may 2026 (alphabetical by artist): gun outfit, process and reality kevin morby, little wide open isaiah rashad, it's been awful suss, counting sunsets weird nightmare, hoopla
Oh hey @tomsnarsky.bsky.social in the house (literally)
I love so so many poets, but I have this running list in my head of people who are doing it better than almost anyone. Which is to say I’m reading this slowly, savoring every line, and which is to say Gabrielle Calvocoressi is on the list.
finally catching up with this from last year, and it's fuckin great
tfw you make your partner’s website bio (yes, she’s in mine)
there’s something about starting a new novel by an author you love and knowing, from page one, that you’re once again in great and trusted hands. which is to say, I read half of this tonight in one sitting.
I want every night to be this George Copeland Ault painting
"Don't use the phone. People are never ready to answer it. Use poetry." (Jack Kerouac, foreseeing how we'd all feel in the year of our lord 2026.)
my favorite albums of april 2026, alphabetical by artist: Brown Horse, Total Dive Earl Sweatshirt/Mike/Surf Gang, Pompeii // Utility Holly Humberstone, Cruel World Lime Garden, Maybe Not Tonight Wu Lyf, A Wave That Will Never Break
haven’t been this excited about book mail in a minute. Skeets’ debut was easily one of my favorites of this young century
Holly coming through with the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me
finally watching the hbo doc on my sad-boy fathers, counting crows