Actor/Diriector/Narrator/Writer Peter Coyote and Katerina Stoykova had a chance to record a conversation for the Accents podcast on WUKY.
In this interview you will hear Peter read a few poems from his upcoming book, talk about becoming a Buddhist priest, living the life of a curious person, and more.
Listen here.
Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, Sirens and Rain.
Sirens and Rain is a book of haiku and senryu (haiku-like poems focusing on human nature) about life in and around Philadelphia. People, animals, trees, fountains, statues, trains, life in all forms as it reveals itself in quintessential moments. With its unique variety of human and (other) natural phenomena, I have found this city to be an ideal place to write these “sketches from life.” The poems in this book came to me over a number of years—as I walked to work, taught my classes, rode my bicycle around the Schuylkill River, and otherwise encountered city life. (Note: the word “haiku” is both singular and plural; the same is true for “senryu.”)
What do you like most about it?
I like how the book is a history, in poetry, of what life was like for my wife, my cats, and me during the years we lived near the corner of 20th and Chestnut Streets. This is the intersection shown in the photograph I took for the cover. A few of the poems were written after we moved from there to another place just around the corner.
What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?
By the time I began working on the manuscript that became Sirens and Rain, I had plenty of haiku and senryu that could have conceivably been included. So the challenge was to select and arrange the best poems, or the best combination of poems, for the effect I wanted. Organizing by seasons helped; that way I could break the poems into five separate sequences (the four seasons plus a fifth chapter for late summer through early fall). In arranging the poems, I tried to juxtapose nature poems and people poems that played off one another in interesting ways. This entailed many rounds of revisions. You might say that the actual composing of the book was a matter of moving 3 X 5 cards around over and over again.
What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?
As with haiku and senryu generally, I hope the poems in this book make readers more keenly, and in most cases more pleasurably, aware of what they encounter moment by moment in life. One of the best effects poems like these can have is to evoke for the reader a thought-feeling like, “Oh, I’ve had that experience—or seen that sight—a hundred times, but before never noticed it in all its beauty and wonder.” Or humor and charm, as the case might be.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?
Because haiku and senryu can appeal so readily not only to poets and poetry enthusiasts but to folks who don’t often read poetry, I am always gratified when I learn that my brother-in-law, neighbor, landlord’s son, or high school Facebook friend “gets” and likes my poems. As for a specific interaction, I had an especially fulfilling one last fall when I visited a class that was reading Sirens and Rain as an assigned text for their Community College of Philadelphia literature course. Owing probably in no small part to how well their professor had guided their week-long study of my book, I found the students extremely engaged in and curious about writing haiku. They asked incisive questions. Then, in a kind of workshop format, I went around the room helping them with the short collections they were assigned to write. Almost to a person, perhaps TO a person, they were writing original haiku about subjects that mattered to them. As I left the classroom, literally, I felt a chill go down my spine. We had given a lot to one another.
What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of Sirens and Rain.
The most significant recent event in my writing life is that I just finished the manuscript that is the successor to Sirens and Rain. Entitled “Unofficial Portraits,” it consists of haiku and senryu that portray people by focusing on a moment or detail that is especially revealing about each person’s character. As with Sirens and Rain, the subjects span a range of settings, including work, education, neighbors, law and politics, sports, and family.
Optional bonus question: Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing?
Why aren’t haiku about sports (other than baseball) more widely appreciated? Not a particularly pressing question but a pet peeve of mine.
Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing trilogy, WOMAN, TAINTED, and GIRL.
Girl found me when I was attending the Carnegie Center’s Author Academy. She followed me on my walks, told me her story and I wrote it down! It has changed my life in so many positive ways. Katerina challenged me to continue to listen to Girl to see if she had more to say, so Tainted and Woman arrived!
What do you like most about it? Girl’s story is really about resilience! Which I think is so important in life. I think that’s why many people find her story to be hearbreaking and inspiring at the same time.
What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?
Self doubt. The struggle is real. Once I realized that all I had to do was listen to Girl, it became easier.
What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?
I hope that people see themselves in Girl. Her story is universal even though the specifics may be a bit different. She is us, we are her. We can all be resilient, courageous, faithful and positive.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?
I have been blessed with many positive interactions with those who have read Girl’s story. It has been such a humbling, impactful experience. I have met so many wonderful people through the entire experience. It has also reconnected me with family and friends of long ago!
What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publications of WOMAN, TAINTED, and GIRL.
I am doing my best to continue to write new stories, poems and whatever pops into my head, although I must admit, Girl is still in my ear. She walks my dog with me daily. So I guess I’ve made a life long connection with her. Who knows where she will take me next. I am looking forward to the adventure.
Optional bonus question: Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing?
I can only speak for myself, but I’ve found it very liberating to write and put my words out into the world, and own them. Everyone’s voice deserves to be heard. Oh what a choir we become when we all speak up!
Katerina Stoykova had a conversation with poet Bill Verble about his debut poetry collection, Absence Descending, out from Broadstone Books! Listen to this episode of the Accents podcast on WUKY.
Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, Scotch Tape World.
When the book came out, my sons were ten, eight, and six years old, respectively. The title poem is about a theme park I invented, kind of a counter to Disney, where kids go to learn hard truths about the world. Arguably the best poem in the book, “Confessions of a Failed Beatnik,” is about how my domestic life forced me to confront and revise my ideas about poetry. The question was whether I could still be a poet while raising kids in the suburbs and holding down a job, when I grew up reading and idolizing bearded, barefoot, urban poets.
What do you like most about it?
The book helped me work through the personal crisis that I described in answer to your first question. Could I still be a poet, even after pursuing a different life than the kind lived by many of my poetic role models? If so, what would that look like? The answer came in the form of these poems. Yes, I could still write poetry, and yes, poetry has the power to keep shapeshifting and surprising me enough to sustain my continued interest in it.
What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?
I had small kids, so I had to overcome legos on the floor, IEP meetings at school, nightmares (my kids’ and my own), sleeplessness, and constant interruptions and distractions.
What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?
An escape from the great Godzilla, and a return to Eden.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?
I’ve been interviewed by creative writing students at various universities. They always ask me questions that make me think about things from new angles. Also, one time I got to meet with a book club in Atlanta that had read and discussed my book. What an honor that was! I would love to see more book clubs exploring contemporary poetry.
What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of Scotch Tape World.
The year Scotch Tape World was published, my eldest son was diagnosed with autism. Then three years later, my wife and I adopted our daughter, aged 16 ½ at the time, from state foster care. Those experiences became the basis for my chapbook, Adjusting to the Lights, which won the Rattle Chapbook Prize in 2020. That year I started branching out into screenplays, two of which got produced. Now I’m working on a novel (or novella) and a memoir.
Optional bonus question: Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing?
I’m not a fan of sensitivity readers, who are really paid censors. I can’t work with publishers who push authors to make market-driven decisions. The only writing that I care about is literary and artistic. The important thing, for me, is to maintain what Stephen Crane called “integrity of personal vision.”
I had the privilege of interviewing Ensoulment Doula Samar Johnson about their debut poetry collection and other topics. If you have 33 minutes, listen to our conversation!
Listen here.
Jennifer Litt
Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, Strictly From Hunger
My book, Strictly from Hunger, took shape from listening to the expressions and idioms my parents used in conversations with my sister and me. For example, “for the birds” and “from hunger” inspired me to capture both humor and poignance in my poems, to understand that poetry is a life and death matter. Both of those phrases refer to people and/or situations that are less than desirable. See “Mother Superior Gets Porked Again” and “River Bend, Year’s End.”
What do you like most about it?
One of the things I like the most about my book is the lushness and music of my poems, that I believe captures the essence of me in words and certainly reveals my love for the Irish poets, especially William Butler Yeats. An example of this would be “Plenty of Fish.” I also love the layout of Strictly from Hunger. Accents Publishing produces distinct, beautiful books. Who doesn’t want to be part of “an independent press for brilliant voices.”
What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?
I tried to approach the isolation and potential loneliness of the pandemic with an intact spirit and a creative flourish to be able to complete the manuscript. I channeled my language muse and that’s all she/I/we wrote. I’m not sure I could summon that fortitude again. Reentry to the world of people was as difficult as it was vital to my emotional well-being. I also consider myself lucky that Katerina Stoykova appreciated the evolution of my writing over the years and was interested in publishing my first full-length collection.
What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?
Although I’ve been writing creatively and publishing my work in journals for 30 odd years, I only published my first chapbook at age 59, followed by Strictly from Hunger at age 65, in time for a literary Medicare tour. While our time here is limited, we each realize our dreams and potential at different ages for many reasons. Katerina understands that. Her brilliance and empathy are her magic powers that lift others up.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?
My favorite interaction with a fan/reader was with my now deceased Uncle Dick. “The Great Fire of February 1928” chronicles the fire that destroyed Fall River, Massachusetts, while my father and his mother (pregnant with Uncle Dick) look on with foreboding. Uncle Dick’s mother died giving birth to him, and my father was a devoted big brother to him. The poem always made him cry. That’s the power of emotional truth.
What are you working on now?
I recently completed my second full-length poetry manuscript, Shellbound, and I’m hoping it finds a good home. In September 2023 I reconnected with a recently widowed college boyfriend, and we’ve been developing a lovely friendship, a bicoastal relationship because he lives north of San Francisco and I live in Fort Lauderdale. We met at the University of Rhode Island.
Optional bonus question: Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing?
A poem that I’ve labeled my ars poetica can be found in my new manuscript. It’s called “The Gulf of the Poets” and pokes good fun at the world of po biz. I let my writing do the talking.
Hey Friends,
If you have 37 free minutes, please listen to Katerina Stoykova’s conversation with Kevin Nance on the Accents podcast on WUKY! We discuss his book SMOKE and he reads several poems from it.
https://www.wuky.org/podcast/accents/2026-01-03/kevin-nance
If you have 30 free minutes, listen to Katerina Stoykova’s interview with poet Chuck Stringer. In it we talk about his chapbook, his creek, his relationship to higher power, time, nature and more.
Listen here.
Accents Publishing founder and senior Katerina Stoykova interviewed poet, writer and activist Silas House about his debut poetry collection, All These Ghosts. Listen to this episode of the Accents podcast on WUKY.
Photo by Kevin Nance