Accents Publishing is proud to announce that Melissa Helton’s first full-length poetry collection, A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN RAGES is set to release on 5/15, exactly a month from now. We believe that you will love this book and its powerful messages delivered with exemplary poetic craft! Preorder info to follow.
With fierce energy and a creative use of poetic styles, these poems collaborate as an affirmation against the evils women face and as an entreaty to “thrive in flux,” to pay “deliberate, unceasing attention” to everything in the world, “as if it were holy.” —Marianne Worthington, author of The Girl Singer
Through these poems, I come to understand the middle-aged woman raging as a community spiritual worker…. These poems are fearless and yet they understand the importance of acknowledging our fears and telling what we must tell to survive. —Joy Priest, author of Horsepower
Her passion & artistry left me awed, energized, & ready to write. What more could you want? —George Ella Lyon, author of Back to the Light: Poems Kentucky Poet Laureate 2015 – 2016
Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, GOODBYE, BABY.
The genesis of the poems is as transparent at it seems: the frail and painful final weeks of my beloved dog Lucy and the months of grieving that followed her death.
What do you like most about it?
“Like” perhaps isn’t the word to use in the context of this book, but writing it provided an outlet that I apparently needed during those sad, angry, helpless, terrifying days.
What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish the book?
I was writing compulsively over the course of those months, and at some point it occurred to me that the poems might constitute a book. That was a by-product, not an initial goal. One element unique to this collection is that I’d never before written a book dictated by form. All of the poems are twelve lines and untitled. The latter seemed a self-evident decision. These were intimate, compressed poems, on-going and in conversation with one another, and individual titles seemed too much of a … what, pronouncement? Too sharp a demarcation from piece to piece. The more arbitrary choice—and I don’t recall how or why the idea came to me—was the restriction of the twelve-line structure, which ultimately served several purposes. For one, each poem was a puzzle for me to solve, to expand or more often contract to a contained, companionable size. I was desperate for both distraction and for some semblance of control in a world we’d lost control of.
What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?
I’m suspicious of wanting anyone to “learn” anything from a sequence of poems, but these are obviously close to the heart, so I’m gratified that folks seem moved by them. Every poem in the book, by the way, however seemingly far-ranging in tone or subject, is actually about Lucy and losing her. Stating the obvious, perhaps. Trust me.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?
In the context of GOODBYE, BABY? Well, the book’s only recently published, but it’s been more pleasant than I expected to get emails from friends—friends from different periods of my life and vastly different contexts—whom I haven’t been in touch with for years or even decades. I’ve been living an increasingly withdrawn and private life, so a few knocks on the door from the outside world, some friendly overtures from the past, are okay.
What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of GOODBYE, BABY.
Another book of poems, Negotiable Gods, is coming out later in 2026, of this book’s heels. It contains pieces written during the three-four years before the intense period that generated Goodbye, Baby. So, the books are appearing out of order, which disconcerts me a bit, although I suppose no one will notice or care. Aside from writing, I’m looking forward, if I ever have the chutzpah to retire, to getting back to drawing, painting, working with clay.
A significant event?
I just put down a sizeable deposit on a trip a year from now, swimming with humpback whales for a week in the Dominican Republic. We’ll see if I have the nerve, or the body, to go through with it. Not a bad way to die, though—slapped unconscious by an errant flipper and returned to the dark, cold depths whence I came! I hereby leave all my posthumous poems to Accents.
Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, UDDER UPROAR.
I love to write and do so almost every day since my first head injury back in 2000. In fact, my brain started to think in rhyme (not unusual for concussives, that is if they remember to think). When I decided to attempt to compile a collection and try to get it published, I knew I wanted it to appeal to the masses, poems people would actually read and enjoy. Since I seem to have a propensity to add irony, humor and sarcasm to my thoughts and writings, I decided to make a book filled with poems that filled this bill, although I’m slightly sad Udder Uproar is more of a chick magnet than a book that appeals to all sexes. But my mentors say, write what you know. Udder Uproar, my first and so far, only collection of poetry, is filled with waves of inane, love, loss and whatever else tides in my brain. All original poems by me without the help of AI (except for possible research answers), are ideas and observations written in my unique unstylish style, free form and untraditional. In 2022/2023 I attended Katerina Stoykova’s Poetry Boot Camp, 6 months of writing, revision and education. At the end we were supposed to do a manuscript exchange. Fortunate for me there was an uneven number of us to exchange with so Katerina decided she would read my collection. Katerina got back almost immediately with her desire to publish it. First, she said it was a full-length collection, but after many cuts, Udder Uproar was birthed as an in between chapbook and a tome of poems.
What do you like most about it?
The poems in Udder Uproar reflect my thoughts and observations, full of alliteration, assonance, nonsense, humor and rhyme. These poems are just snippets of the buds blooming daily inside my world. The cherry on top (cliché) is that Katerina Stoykova, Accents Publishing owner and founder, published it, meaning what I love the most about this collection is Katerina. Her bravery to go where few dare, publishing non-traditional people (or whatever you want to call people who don’t follow “the rules”), and subject matter shows me her generosity and open-mindedness.
What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?
Me. I am my own worst enemy. In the world of horses, I never doubted my ability to perform my duties at the highest level possible, within the industry’s confines. But, as a human around humans, I am filled with self-doubt, distrust of others, and the fear I am not good enough. When in the barn or a stall or on a horse’s back these concerns were non-existent. If I couldn’t fix a horse, I knew who to call to help me find the answers. If I couldn’t gallop one, I knew how to compromise with the animal, to work our differences out, or find a better suited rider. I have been unable to control my life with humans this way. I don’t know how to ask for help, who to trust, don’t understand why humans lie to humans. I am afraid of humanity.
What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?
I hope when people read my poems they will laugh, smile, say, Me too, and discover I am the kind of writer who even though I try to hide loving emotions I am filled with love, gratitude and yes, even anger at some of the shit life throws my way. I hope my readers will see how it is possible to change the way we see things, so instead of stress, anxiety, depression, they know there is light shining somewhere, even if that somewhere is inside the cranium.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?
I had one reader order 10 copies. They sent me a list of every person they were going to gift it to and asked me to write a limerick or a little ditty for each person. They put zero restrictions on language or content. It is an amazing feeling to think one is being accepted for who they are and to be trusted to be that person.
What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of UDDER UPROAR.
Since the publication of Udder Uproar, 01/2024, I’ve been working on healing (I keep falling and breaking bones in my left leg), rebuilding strength, getting back to work, of which I am very passionate about because work allows me breathe freely (cliché) and lets me shove my fears to the back burner and wallow in mowing grass and being out in the open. When I write it is always from the inside looking out. I spent the winter of 2024 trying to compile another collection, but I kept running away from the stress, the extreme anxiety from reading poems I felt were less than anything anyone would want to read. I got bogged down in the constant revision after revision. I took longer and longer naps. I meditated more and more, until I was able to spend an entire day avoiding working on a book. Once again, I am working on my 2nd publication. I have many serious poems I would love to share with the world, but the competition is fierce, and since I love humor and words and ridiculous words, big words, words most people don’t even know exist or how to pronounce (me included) and then use those words in poems, I decided the alphabet and words might make a good book. These poems are the closest I’ve come to writing in a theme, and that is the next, boring (Lord, I hope not) collection I working on. I also write limericks, and like to write political limericks, too (and dirty ones) and maybe one day I’ll have enough for a collection.
Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing?
You ask if there’s anything I want to get off my chest about writing and publishing and the first thing I think of is how hard writing for publication is, especially if someone writes for their own enjoyment, are relatively unknown in the publishing world, or are reclusive (as many writers are). It is hard to break through, to open doors to the unknown, to sell oneself (pitch and market) and to follow all sorts of protocol, and rules, and then to submit. Relying on talent and good work is not enough to sell well, to be noticed, to be read and read again. And now, when few people read actual books there’s the challenge of trying to be a virtual/viral sensation, meaning for poems to be read I believe a poet must be able to sell them by reading them to whoever and doing it on social media. And that means investing in quality sound recording equipment or going somewhere to record and then figure out where to place and sell them to the quick fix generation.
Publishing appears to be an expensive folly, almost Sisyphean, meaning the time and energy it takes to create, submit, rationalize putting yourself out there for rejection, dealing with rejection, marketing and selling books with the greatest gratification coming from getting it done.
I’ve been a fan and admirer of Brother Paul Quenon’s poetry, memoir and photography. I had the rare opportunity to interview him for the Accents podcast on WUKY and ask him questions! I hope you listen!
Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, WOE & AWE.
Katerina’s Poetry Bootcamps made me do it! I don’t know if it’s possible to develop writing skills without the constructive criticism and support of community; without Katerina’s mentorship, I’d still be looking up the meaning of fancy poetry terms like “enjambment” and “caesura” and “quatrain.” This is the story of Woe & Awe‘s unfolding—it’s voice and physical body in the world are a result of slow writing-muscle growth.
What do you like most about it?
I love how art, whatever its form, allows the-something-greater-of-life to be expressed through human beingness and is so often a balm for the ailing human spirit. When I’m struggling, making art for its own sake and spending time in nature, brings me home to myself. Woe & Awe is a raw and honest poetry memoir about hardship and healing. I really like that the work helps others to see their own stories of perseverance and the unrelenting green of hope. Yes, shit happens, but it’s not all that happens. And anyway, everyone knows that shit is fertilizer.
What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?
I overcame the inner critic, some poetry craft learning curves, and then several vulnerability hangovers after it was published.
What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?
Here’s my sincere-corny-effective response to this question: I hope readers are encouraged to look at their own stories as interesting chapters so far—whatever the details—and realize that what comes next is yet to be written. Write it.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?
I find the microphone intimidating and have felt supported throughout Kentucky, promoting the book. I had my first drunk-heckler last year and he yelled things like: “Yah! You tell it like it is, girl!” and “That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!”, and I hope this will happen to me at least once a year from now on.
What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of WOE & AWE.
It was both the Accents Poetry Bootcamp 2023, and the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop 2023, that made me realize I want to formally learn what I don’t know that I don’t know about poetry, so I applied to the MFA program at Spalding in Louisville, and graduated in November 2025. My first book is full of Bootcamp and first semester work; my graduating thesis is a second poetry collection (still evolving). Through a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, I facilitate art-making and poetry-writing in under-resourced communities of women in Kentucky; I‘mcertain that Woe & Awe and my MFA credential have helped open that door.
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.
Accents Publishing is proud to present The Stone by accomplished poet Joe Survant. Reading these new and selected poems is a form of travel, a spiritual experience, a pilgrimage to visible and invisible worlds. We hope you enjoy this book.
The Stone ships within days and currently the entire Accents Publishing catalog is on 30% off sale.
The Stone: New and Selected Poems from Asia is another gift from Joe Survant’s treasury. I urge you to read this book. —Peter Coyote, Author, actor, Zen Buddhist Priest
Like snow falling in the rainforest, these poems are surprising, mysterious. They startle with images both strange and familiar, and let us travel to new places in both the world and the heart. —Kim Edwards, author of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
These poems offer a new dialect to the truths of suffering and spiritual transcendence that are at root our universal human language. —Richard Taylor, author of Fathers
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 ofScotch 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.”
