Get It Back To Give It Away by Marc Brüseke

I just finished Get It Back To Give It Away by Marc Brüseke. It's a quick read -- 130 pages. As the back cover says, it's the "story of Richard Marx as he travels through Hungary and Croatia jotting down notes and poems in his pocketbook while meditating on the transient nature of travel."

I met Marc via this blog (he currently resides in Europe) and we traded books via the mail. As he described his book in his note to me when the book arrived, it is a "fusion of prose & what I've been calling 'photo-sketch' poetry (inspired by Kerouac's sketch method & Roland Barthes' photographic analysis) --> I basically look at photos I've taken and then though the use of memory & personal reflection & visual cues I write them up as poems." The book is about 1/3 such poems and 2/3 prose that is Kerouacian in style.

The prose sections are journal-like, written in first-person and describing the narrator's experiences traveling. As you can imagine, there's a lot of sight-seeing, drinking, eating, people-watching, smoking, talking, walking, and navigating public transportation. There's a love story of sorts, too, but I don't want to give too much away.

I enjoyed Marc's book. It's reflective, descriptive, authentic, and engaging. I wanted the journey to continue at the end. Perhaps he'll do a sequel.

Get It Back To Give It Away is available on Amazon here or at Marc's website: http://www.analogsubmission.com/.