"Mele" was especially noted for its reissue of works by the 1940s Romanian avant-garde. Baciu repeatedly tried to persuade Sesto Pals, who had returned to his regular job as an engineer, to publish a selection of his lifetime works. The May 1985 issue of "Mele" was entirely dedicated to Pals' poetry. Baciu also tracked down and interviewed poet-draftsman Paul Păun, who, like Pals, moved from Romania to Israel. However, his friendship with Lucian Boz had deteriorated from 1978, when "Mele" hosted a piece by César Tiempo, seen by Boz as "ferociously antisemitic". Baciu maintained a close relationship with dissidents and avant-garde writers in his native Romania—over 100 people, according to concerned Securitate operatives. Such figures include Nicolae Carandino, Alexandru Paleologu, Radu Tudoran, Corneliu Coposu, Ion Dezideriu Sîrbu, Constantin Noica, Dan Culcer and Daniela Crăsnaru. He also corresponded with Constantin Mateescu, who provided him with references for the history of Mira's native city, Râmnicu Vâlcea. As Mateescu recalls, Vâlcea was still Baciu's "charming land". Baciu wrote a complete list of his own works, addressing it to literary critic Nicolae Steinhardt; like his other letters home, it was intercepted by the Securitate. As remarked by Mateescu, in 1984 the correspondence was abruptly interrupted, "even though [Baciu], well informed about our country's realities, was prudent and restrained in his statements". Baciu's file shows that the Securitate also made note of this prudence, and was undecided about how to interpret it:Albeit he misses his country, [Baciu] does not wish to return for a visit, his refusal backed up by confused explanations, by 'poetic' statements according to which 'he carries his country inside him'. Although [Baciu] is adamant about his refusal of our country's current socio-political system, one may conclude that his literary activity, his propagation of Romanian literature, art and traditions, is positive in nature. The secret police repeatedly tried but failed to recruit Baciu's Romanian relatives as informants, and resorted to harassing them at their workplaces. With some of his late works of autofiction, Baciu saluted the anticommunist revolt in his native Brașov.