Ode to American Communists
1935 – 1965
On the sidewalk soapbox in East Flatbush
my mother called out lines from leaflets
by the Young Communist League,
collar of her brown woolen coat
buttoned tightly against the chill. Some,
carrying bags of herring, sour pickles, sweet cream
and strawberries, stopped to listen
as the sky grew dim and the lights came on
Workers Unite!
And they did, for a while, like bright coins
in a purse make a dollar.
There was some good in it
in the textile mills, steelworks,
actor’s studios, government bureaus
and there was a family feeling
around the table, set with borscht
where they tossed their hot-potato opinions,
their urgent, high-pitched bickering
fists hitting the table.
They’d read “The Communist Manifesto,”
they took the Fifth Amendment
they did not name names
though there were jobs at stake,
kids to feed.
Small ancillary soldiers, we sat
at the ends of the table, eating our kugel in silence.
One of the hard-liners sat opposite me
am I blocking your view? he snapped, as I looked
in the mirror behind his head. Fifteen and not keen
on dialectical materialism,
I’d been wondering if I was pretty.
Longing
— Oaxaca, 2012
The bus lurches up Calle Pino Suárez
to the pool where I swim and beyond
to Soriana supermarket, where
the other women are going.
Bloody Jesus hangs on a cross above
the driver’s head, his transistor radio
blares Me Gustas Tu as I sway,
holding tight to the handrails
in my tailored pants, linen jacket,
gym bag, toenails red-orange
pale feet in gold leather sandals.
They sit upright,
their muscled arms
around green and red plastic market bags
they are brown, copper, flawless, it seems
One, a garden of flowers
stitched in her dress, speaks to me
cali chìu? she asks
chastened, I say, Disculpa, no entiendo
She persists her eyes glisten
sun-rough lips beckon
and in my belly a call —
how intimate, lonely, like talking to God
The bus pulls to the curb Me permite?
I murmur, as I make my way to the door.
Independence Day
— Poems by Joanne Fay Brown
Friends, my poetry book has gone to press. It will be released in early January.
You can still preorder it!
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
In 1950 Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, feeding on national anxiety about the spread of world communism, used charges of communist sympathies, disloyalty, and a “Lavender Scare” against suspected homosexuals to attack politicians and individuals in government agencies, film and other industries. 1950 was the year I was born and the year my father — a Federal Drug Administration employee and organizer for the American Federation of Government Employees — was blacklisted, losing his job and any prospect for future employment to provide for our family.
The House Un-American Activities Committee paved the way for McCarthy to hold Senate hearings that ruined the careers of thousands, and fostered paranoia toward anyone suspected of holding contrary political views or of joining certain political organizations. “McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled,” McCarthy said in a 1952 speech.
Many of the poems in Independence Day reflect McCarthyism’s impact on me, my family, and left-leaning friends of our family. As I wrote, it seemed McCarthy’s ghost hovered nearby, with the incoming administration’s focus on loyalty and mass deportation, the rise of Christian Nationalism, book banning, threats to LGBTQ and women’s reproductive rights, and the resultant fear that many in our country are feeling. I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s observation: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
But the story in Independence Day is about more than the personal and national trauma that McCarthyism wrought. These poems also tell a love story that grew through my travels to Mexico, in my recovery from breast cancer, leading cancer patients to heal through writing, and persevering through divorce to find true love in my late-life marriage to Rod Guinn.
WHEN IT WILL BE PUBLISHED
AND HOW TO ORDER
Independence Day will be published by the Main Street Rag Publishing Company, and released in early January 2025. It sells now for $13 + shipping.
Here’s a link to my author’s page, where you can pre-order the book, and also see my author’s profile, book comments by reviewers, and a few sample poems:
Please remember, though. This is for advance orders. It doesn’t mean the book will be shipped early. You will receive it in January.
Many Thanks!
Joanne
PRAISE FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY
“The poems in Joanne Brown’s Independence Day evoke the pain and disappointment felt by many who worked in the 1950s and 1960s for a kinder, better United States. The “FBI visits, the blacklist . . . / those who named names” profoundly affected the poet and her family. But the arc of these beautifully crafted poems — including the poet’s spiritual quest and travels in Mexico — leads us on a redemptive journey to healing and love.” ~Caroline Cottom, author of Asylum
“To read this book of beautiful and revealing poetry is to go on Joanne Brown’s life journey with her. And like her, these poems are brimming with courage and openheartedness in the midst of life’s powerful and painful struggles. I was enrapt.” ~Rev. Patricia de Jong
“Brown’s fresh and inviting voice portrays her family, the McCarthy era, Viet Nam, the social and political moments of the 50’s and 60’s & the dreaming child versus the activist parents. She wonders if she’s pretty, wishes for a boyfriend or a Ladybug sweater; the poems use wonderful details, portray an important era, remind us to see deeply, and climb forward into a new life, one of spirit and love. The book’s a pleasure”. ~Veronica Golos, author of Girl