JOHN PIETARO: writer, poet, spoken word artist, musician, and activist from Brooklyn, NY. Pietaro’s On the Arts Front: Essays on Movement Culture is scheduled for late 2026 publication by International Publishers. Scarlet Streets, Pietaro's chapbook/CD set in conjunction with his punk-jazz, neo-beat ensemble the Red Microphone collaborating with international vocalist and producer Ellen Christi was published/released 9/24/26 by the Bodily Press.

Prior poetry collections include Pietaro's Innocent Postcards: Poetry, Ciphers, Verse (2024) “a brittle venture into Cold War visions anticipating the current authoritarian onslaught”, as well as A Bleeding in Black Leather (2022), The Mercer Stands Burning: Night Poems (2020), and chapbook Smoke Rings (2019).

Earlier, Pietaro penned contemporary proletarian fiction set Night People & Other Tales of Working New York (2013) with a foreword by historian Paul Buhle. Other credits: multiple entries in the upcoming third edition of The Encyclopedia of the American Left (Verso), and a chapter to Paul Buhle and Harvey Pekar's SDS: A Graphic History (Hill & Wang 2007). Pietaro’s writings have been widely published in anthologies and journals including Maintenant among many more.

Staff writer of The NYC Jazz Record, Pietaro is a contributing arts reporter to PleaseKillMe, The Wire (UK), Z, The Village Sun, AllAboutJazz, The Nation, Counter Punch, People's World, TruthOut and others.

Pietaro co-leads the shape-shifting Red Microphone ensemble. In addition to new release, Scarlet Streets, the ensemble's output includes the following albums on the legendary ESP-Disk label: A Bleeding in Black Leather (2022), And I Became of the Dark (2020), and Amina Baraka & the Red Microphone (2018).

A guest speaker at Left Forum and the Vision Festival, Pietaro has been a featured reader at GonzoFest NYC, the NYC Poetry Festival, Great Weather for Media’s Spoken Word Sundays, the Workers United Film Festival, the UpSurge JazzPoetry Festival and others. He’s been the subject of interviews by Word City Lit, Levure Litteraire , l’Unita, WBAI-FM, WDST-FM, more. As a percussionist and/or spoken word artist, he’s collaborated with Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, Amina Baraka, Karl Berger, Steve Dalachinsky, Nora Guthrie, Erika Dagnino, Ras Moshe, historian Paul Buhle, record producers Ivan Julian and Kramer, among many more.

Affiliations: the Author’s Guild, Jazz Journalists Association, Academy of American Poets, International Federation of Journalists.

Literature as a weapon of social justice is at the core of John Pietaro’s arts philosophy. A primary influence remains the pantheon of literary Left writers, as well as New York’s downtown underground, avant garde, free jazz, punk and post-punk movements.

CONTACT INFO:
Websites: http://JohnPietaro.com
Blog: http://TheCulturalWorker.blogspot.com
Email: leftmus@earthlink.net