Past The Breakers Book

from Ben Seretan

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON BANDCAMP (I THINK) ~

Quite unexpectedly in the summer of 2015 I found myself standing in the "dusty toaster oven of Northern Italy" about to embark on a month-long solo tour of most of the country, done entirely by commuter rail, me carrying all my shit on my back the whole time. It was a completely magical and wild trip, one of those months of your life when everything sings when you touch it, when you can feel the electricity humming in the walls. I sang for so many people and hugged so many strangers and was so far from home and also fucked up so bad a few times. A big, important thing in my life, which caused me to spontaneously start writing poetry again. I wrote about it a bunch, published some stuff on my Tumblr (ha), and kept a dutiful journal in hostels and trains.

In 2017 the artist / musician / publisher / all around weirdo genius Jordan Knecht suggested putting together the Italy writing with photos as a risographed book - I one upped him by suggesting we also publish my actual, unedited journals. So this is the result - a beautifully designed, carefully printed and rendered love letter to July '15, with elegiac poems and asides and captions and photos crammed together with knock-kneed journal entries about grace in Rome and masturbating in hotel rooms and sweating through my clothes.

No one was ever supposed to read those, but publishing them was such a tender act. As I say in the introduction, I want to encourage people to sing for others and be wide, wide open.

Note on the price: Jordan's press - Adult Punk - has since closed up shop. We're splitting each sale of these books so he can hopefully maybe eventually cover the cost of manufacturing (thumbs up)

***Purchase includes a free audiobook version, read by me with original music***

Includes unlimited streaming of Past the Breakers via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.