When a stranger, their eyes as bright as moons, asks why I write by Aarik Danielsen

       Emma K Alexandra CC




​When a stranger, their eyes as bright as moons, asks why I write 
(with a line from Michael Stipe)

Too small even for baseball. Carl Sandburg said to. Because stars still tumble through the night sky. I’m so easily smitten, and writing keeps me true. Because I have poor circulation. It’s my one marketable skill and Aarik needs more flannel. Kerouac said to. Too small to change a light bulb, actually. My son tells me his ratio of bad dreams to good is 2:1 and I’m evening the score. Because nobody meets PJ Harvey doing standup. Because I need a chance, a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance. Because the world feels flat and I want to make it round.

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Aarik Danielsen is the arts and culture editor at the Columbia Daily Tribune in Columbia, Missouri. He writes a regular column, The (Dis)content, for Fathom Magazine, and has been published at Image Journal, Plough, Split Lip, HAD, Rain Taxi, Tinderbox Poetry Journal and more. Find more of his work at https://aarikdanielsen.com/

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