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John Pietaro's latest collection might be referred to as "neo-modernist" in its reach-both backward and forward, with each phrase a full, radical grab. Innocent Postcards recalls the socio-political poison of the red scares, 1919 through the Cold War, as much as it celebrates visions, memories, emotions and the fight-back of the century. And still.
Within you'll ponder black-and-white film and television, swoon to Spanish Civil War ballads, struggle through the evening news, groove to progressive jazz, cringe at the headlines and advertisements, and ride raucous punk and no wave. Also, marvel over seemingly mysterious documents on global spy sensations obtained through the FBI's open vault. The reports on rock stars and the Rowan and Martin Laugh-In show would be purely comical were the level of official ignorance not so repulsive.
Oh, and the title? The "innocent postcards" overtly sent via airmail included cryptic messaging that might otherwise appear, well, innocent. You'll also find other tid-bits of the spy vs spy years tucked into these contents. Pay particular attention to the Bureau messages to and from the despotic J. Edgar Hoover.
None of it should serve as comforting nostalgia.
"Innocent Postcards by John Pietaro lucidly and beautifully recalls the moods and realities of Cold War Culture and its impact upon us all today. If, as a recent New York Times critic wrote, American liberalism after the New Deal ran out of dreams and turned to the Cold War for a convenient enemy, we have all suffered immeasurably and may only now be emerging, we hope, from that long nightmare. Pietaro's poems offer a measure of recovery."-Paul Buhle, historian/author/editor, Encyclopedia of the American Left, Radical Hollywood, Blacklisted, Hiding in Plain Sight, Bohemians, SDS: A Graphic History, many more.
"Jazz is poetry is history is revolution is jazz. John Pietaro and I had a friend, Steve Dalachinsky, who hated the expression "jazz poet." Pietaro understands why. The pieces in this collection are not "jazz poems." They are jazz. They are poetry. They are part of the past and part of the future and we hope, part of the revolution."-Puma Perl, poet, writer, journalist, and frontwoman of Puma Perl & Friends. Her latest book is Birthdays Before and After.
"John Pietaro's collection Innocent Postcards is not a comforting nostalgia trip but a stark reminder of a turbulent past, inviting readers to reflect on the relentless pursuit of justice in the face of Cold War adversity. Written in language that is clear, precise and evocative, Pietaro explores the untold stories of bold writers, musicians, actors, dancers, and visual, film, and performance artists who risked their careers and lives for justice in a nation founded by and for a select few, proving that the past is present in all its poignant triumphs and defeats."-Richard Modiano, Director Emeritus Beyond Baroque Foundation and winner of the 2022 Joe Hill Prize for Labor Poetry
