If You Love That Lady: Poems

by Maya C. Popa

“One of my generation’s finest poets―a truly peerless voice. . . .An immense book and a searing achievement.” ―Ocean Vuong, author of The Emperor of Gladness

“Maya C. Popa is an exquisite master at turning her experiences of the world into light, which she then shines into our hearts. Reading her poems is such an intimate engagement, like finding a room in your own house that you didn’t even know was there. This book opens the door." ― Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times best-selling author of All the Way to the River

“Something remarkable is at work here: an exact and exacting scintillation of thought and image that in sum becomes a shimmer." ―Robert Macfarlane, author of Is a River Alive?


Set in America, England, and Romania, If You Love That Lady explores the inventiveness of longing and its relentless drive, proving that what breaks us open at last reveals us to ourselves.

Part elegy to the passing of impossible things, part ars poetica to the possibility of remaking, the stunning third collection from Popa draws on nineteenth-century courtship letters to linger in the rush of love and its fallout: “Happiness was no small thing, / but neither was its cost.”

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Hardcover

Published July 14, 2026

Reviews

[Lauren (sharonoldsfanclub) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen, a poetry collection that uses fragments of nineteenth century courtship letters as inspiration is always going to work for me. Maya C. Popa embodies the longing and romanticism of prior generations to speak to the tricky nature of love. Her poems feel like linguistic puzzles in a way, waiting to be unpeeled with each reread. I found this to be beautiful. Teeny, but immense. (Thank you to W.W. Norton for the finished copy)

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

4, but only because Wound is the Origin of Wonder set the bar so high.

My favorite poems were How it is, Had we but world enough, Happenstance, and One way or another, for the form.

[Leigh Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

DARK MATTER

No one know what it is,
no one you'd count on
knowing has a clue, which is true
mystery, not obfuscation,
a question contending
with the topsoil of time.

Desire's what's the matter
with our lives, a sea parting
to reveal another sea.
Its command renews,
swells and beckons:
you'd be a fool not to love
until the last second.

[Emma Goldman-Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is such a palpable pleasure to hold this book in my hands and feel the deep care that made it. If you treasure what is thoughtful and felt, what is crafted without sentimentality or the sense of marketplace and branding in so much of what is out there, then these poems will speak to you in their open-hearted humanity, their specificity and how open they are to interpretation and expansion toward a kind of universal feeling of communion with the world.

These are big mostly page-sized poems. These are thoughtful, philosophical, metaphysical poems that also exist “private as Napoleon violets.” They allow for deep introspection, with lines like, “Haven’t our sanities / been centrifuged, splitting us from / what we were?” and “…and who knew / we’d miss even what afflicted us.”

The lyricism will woo you and wow you, and the narratives will clarify your own, or at least they do that for me! If You Love That Lady is a book steeped in history and presence and the essence of our souls caught in our own living. Global references and cadences help me to feel as if I’ve stepped into an Eastern European capital, a journey into my own connection to the lyric and the narrative. The book makes me a better poet as it carves each poem with a sharp, clean blade that seems to elevate all it touches. Read. Savor. Repeat.

[Jason VonGerichten · Rating 5 out of 5]

She’s just one of my favorites. It’s like reading songs. Witty and lyrical and everything I want in a collection of poems.

[Dipali · Rating 5 out of 5]

With every collection, Maya just keeps getting better!

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it possible to conjure with words something crystalline, and green like June foliage, and warm like sun on skin? Maya Popa has done so in this exquisite collection of poems that can be read again and again for the beauty of the lines, the agile mind at work throughout, and the clever construction of each poem. What constitutes love is often elusive. How to write about love in ways that illuminate and expand its scope with freshness, and an ear to written history is a genuine achievement. Like some of the reviewers here, I was also the recipient of an advance copy. This is a volume of poems I have subsequently read many times with great pleasure. Depth of thought and feeling delivered with a light hand. Highly recommend!

[Robert J. Tiess · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOODREADS REVIEW


I bought this book twice, first in print and then the Kindle edition. Poetry collections as essential as this I need to have at hand, so they'll be there, in print, when I am at home, and ready to accompany me digitally whenever I travel.

These are the kinds of poems I believe we would always do well to keep in reach, particularly when we need undiluted infusions of truthful and healing humanity delivered through lyrical lines of sustaining revelations so carefully composed they warm and nurture us with their restorative reasonings and vivacious verities.

Through purposeful imagery and memorable phrasing, Maya's impeccable poetry collections have always impressed and inspired me on multiple levels, from their meticulous crafting and contemplative cadence to their compassionate concerns and convincing insights.

Everything in If You Love That Lady exhibits that rare expert blend of artistry, empathy, and earthy eloquence that resonates at once as literary and accessible.

Here are some examples of poems I've revisited now several times. They are listed in the order of their appearance along with quoted passages paired with my brief notes:


+ At the Entrance of a Love Poem, I Hesitate
The intriguing imagery: "All my loves blink back, a gallery of mirrors."


+ And Miles to Go
The metaphorical mastery: "Mercy is the red leaves / holding on this late"


+ The World Was All Before Them
The palpable paradise: "You have made me an Eden, the veins / of my wrist the twin rivers of Heaven, / an altar where neck meets spine."


+ The Living
The exquisite wit: "(it's only ever a short leap to the beloved)."


+ The Lyric Apostrophe
The soaring simile "Sky hastens like silence leaving the blank page, / first flakes, then whiteout from the mind of God."


+ The Romantics
The conquering candor: "... Years I was afraid / someone would refer to you in past tense, / and I'd sink like an animal past the dream / of evolution clean into disrepair."


+ Fireflies
The cinematic camerawork: "...rain disrupts / a surface that conceals and reflects / as divers search for bodies in the harbor, / the promise of closure fleeing what remains / of this extravagant, fatal, blinking life."


+ Had We But World Enough
The exhilarating wisdom: "Even the parasailing man, / adrift without a plan ... even he dislodges / his throne of air and hits the ground at a run.


+ It All Comes Back to Me Now
And the culminating clarity: "it's okay to be half right / about what love means in the making / of a life."


In truth, all these poems, including others not listed here (such as the various "If You Love That Lady" ones Maya wove wonderfully throughout the first and third parts of this collection) are to be admired, cherished, and reread.

Following the closing poem, a "Notes" section reveals some of the thinking and inspirations behind several poems in this book.

On the inside flap of the hardcover edition, poet Ocean Vuong correctly refers to Maya as "One of my generation's finest poets--a truly peerless voice."

To that I gladly (as someone who has written and studied poetry since the 1980s and is a member of Maya's Conscious Writers Collective) add these truths: Maya is also one of poetry's greatest present advocates and educators, someone who enthusiastically cares about and tirelessly promotes poetry, its readers and practitioners, as well as the wider world of poetry publishing.

What a blessing it is to count Maya among my contemporary influences, and what an honor it is to review her magnificent book and to recommend it heartily to poetry friends and fans and readers around the world.

As I write this review, I do so the hope many more readers and poets will discover Maya's marvelous words and works.

If you'd like to learn about Maya and her books, I've compiled and posted links to relevant websites, one of which includes Maya reading the opening poem from this collection:

https://robertjtiess.substack.com/p/a...


Also worth noting: this Los Angeles Review of Books interview revealing more about Maya and If You Love That Lady:

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/maya-popa-poetry-if-you-love-that-lady/

[Derek Bourassa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resplendent language dazzles across every page of the third collection from Maya C. Popa. Popa’s work always seems to be daisy chained to the past on some level, in a continuous conversation with the literature that has preceded her work. It’s like she jumped into the lake of literature from a rope swing and while it is later and elsewhere and all the water has long since evaporated, the influence of the splash upon her has not.

Her use of language creates poems that are delicacies, crafted like a risotto that has been tended to little by little with just enough onion and just enough broth and just enough butter to allow the rice to be anointed but not drown as each grain browns against the ardent bottom of a heavy copper saucepan. This collection feels like when a chef has provided a carefully crafted tasting menu that hits the palate just right, at times with the subtle essence of saffron (frankincense and myrrh) and at other times perhaps like an enjoyable punch to the chest (Memento Mori).

Words precise to their purpose (Wind farms winding. Ancient bows. Chutes of Sunlight) invoke meaning and construct ephemeral worlds (I’ve watched the moon, yellow half-disk, rise, then evaporate/ at an angle. I’ve seen it all I mean.) that supports her vivid storytelling. Popa shines brilliantly with her ability to convey narrative through the simple everyday experience of those objects that surround us (How it is & The Living & You are Here & And Miles To Go).

The portrayal of a world rich with flora (Marigold rows of pleated tangerine —), (While in secluded gardens,/ spring grows jessamine, poppy, and wild rose), (Witness spring’s mauve detonation.) and fauna (Sleeping swifts mistaken for angels/ in early radar before the sight grew sharp), (I have been warned/ the sea turtle bites) illuminates the author’s attunement to the world she inhabits and provides multiplicitous opportunities for that thing Shakespeare referred to as one touch of nature that can make the whole world kin, or in this case, the reader kin to the world presented. Fleshy and sensual at times it can be a somatic experience. (Your affair with my ankles is legion), (Chopin/ Unmistakable floats in like a sunlit stream).

Even with the precision of language, the work does not become merely narrative or descriptive in the sense it betrays its own mystery. A balance is struck throughout where the work both reveals and conceals. And at the times that seem disordered, I suspect that they are intentionally disorderly, part of the mystery of having seemingly diffuse elements fit together in a way that makes a person wonder: Wait what? Why? Well, while it could be viewed as clashing, everything feels like it fits together, so I suppose she is pulling it off. (The Romantics/ In raptures over Chapmans Homer/…/ The dog cries because it sets the human world in motion).

And lastly, while certainly not least, please know that this book will make you laugh. (Clumsy Elpenor…bombed on lotus).

Highly recommend it.

[Frank Desiderio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya Popa honored me with an advanced copy of her “If You Love That Lady.”
I’m grateful to be able to savor these poems. I particularly loved, “And Miles to Go.” It’s my kind of poem. The chronical of a trip with strong geographic images that are about more than scenery. The short (nine lines) poem “Memento Mori” gave me a smile. This is not contemplating Yorick’s skull but accepting the consequence of a choice.
“The World Was All Before Them” is a poem that I had to read out loud before I got it. There is a lovely self-referential playfulness to it. “Dark Matter” – my kind of poem; a challenge with a resolution that is contained in a fluid metaphor and a bite of morality at the end.
“Happenstance” – I thought this was the last poem, it read like a last poem but no, there is more. “It All Comes Back To Me Now” is the real last poem and it earned its spot.
The setting for many of the poems is Europe. Even when a place is not directly referenced, the poems have the feel of old streets, stone walls and skinny stray cats and a tall, dark and handsome man with a sweater draped over his shoulders like a cape.
There is a thoughtful cohesion to the collection. The poems comment on each other as they circle around the sentiments of post-romantic love. One clear cohesion is that several of the poems in the collection have the same title as the book.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

**I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review

In her exhilarating third collection, poet Maya C. Popa (If You Love That Lady) draws loosely on the correspondence of Sally McDowell and John Miller’s 19th-century correspondence as a lens through which to explore love and the “top of doubt” that often accompanies it. How does one bridge the distance between the "breadth and choice of language" and the constraints of a “simple shaking hand?” The poems in this collection highlight the sometimes insurmountable chasm between the lyrical “Latinate and wry” and the perils of mortal longing. With nods to everyone from Keats and Wordsworth to Taylor Swift, Popa achieves an impeccable interweaving of intertextuality and historical dialogue, rendering each poem arresting yet seamlessly wrought. This work highlights the elation of encountering a "conscience pressed between the pages of a correspondence,” even if, so often, yearning remains relegated to the page. This may be an “extravagant, fatal, blinking, life,” but this brilliant collection surely proves that transcendence is possible.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been pursuing a curiosity of poetry lately, and thanks to @w.w.norton, I have had the immense joy of reading 𝑰𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑳𝑨𝑫𝒀 𝒃𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒂 𝑪. 𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒂, #gifted to me and out now!

I won't pretend to know anything about poetry, how to read it, or how to review it. I just know what it feels like lately to slow down, savor each word, and feel the calm and wonder wash over me.

Some of these words felt sad, some felt illuminating, some bright, some darker, but all felt beautiful to me. I especially enjoyed the title poem continued throughout in places.

Did I also feel like I probably didn't "get" them all? Of course! I am new! And I hope to keep learning and enjoying the process of trying new things. This is an easy one.

I highly recommend this collection of poems for anyone, new to the genre or not, as a meditative magic. I will be rereading these often.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was honored with an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this brilliant collection from the author, Maya C. Popa. These poems are a gift to the world and to each human soul within it yearning to be seen. That these poems reflect to the reader what is felt, but often escapes articulation, is best expressed by Popa herself, “/All my loves blink back, a gallery of mirrors./" With quiet intensity, Popa paints these masterful poems with precision, tension, sound, and language that shimmers. "/Then we were alone again with everything/ we didn’t say, the wind farms winding/ their great arms through nothing,/ turning from a place too far to hear.//" She arrives at hard earned truths, the ones we know but often fail to recognize because of fear. As Popa expresses, “/how often I have failed to look/ when looking would have changed me./" Popa's deeply moving words and arresting images leave the reader with the challenge and desire to embrace the world despite--or perhaps because of-- all of its heartbreak and loss. "/Its command renews, / swells and beckons: / you'd be a fool not to love/ until the last second."// This is a collection to read and reread, lest we miss something vital.

[Blanca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maya Popa is a very well-connected (and well-off) poet, but when I saw she received a Starred review in PW, I gave If You Love That Lady a chance. After reading, this honestly made me wary of what's being platformed by large publishers in contemporary poetry. There is so much more daring, surprising and life-changing work out there, especially by WOC, and this is some of the most banal, cliched language out there. She writes like she's from early 20th century aristocracy, again, well-connected and well-off, but not much to it. I gave two stars instead of one because at least it is not offensive and you can use to teach students what not to do.

[Steven Peck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nearly every poem in this beautifully curated collection was a masterpiece of expression and thought. Maya Popa's last collection, "Wound is the Orion of Wonder," was one of my favorites, and I've gone back to it many times, so I picked this one up as soon as it came out. As hard as it is to imagine, this one captured me even more. As an ecologist, her use of nature to explore love's complexity especially created a startling poetic ecosystem that honored both the substance of the poems and their expression. This book, like her previous volume, I'm sure, will elicit multiple readings. A pursuit I look forward to with joy.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC from the author.

Lyrical, precise, tender, mysterious, and filled with love and longing, this collection is one to savor slowly. I am reminded of Sylvia Plath’s description of her own poetic lines as, “mouthfuls of sound which have meaning.” These poems excel in both sound and sense, the combination that so many poets strive for but few achieve. This is a book I will eagerly (and enviously!) return to often.

[Courtney Pityer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I don't normally read poetry but seeing as this book was sent to me as a gift I figured I would check it out. I have to admit that I was quite impressed with what I read. The author has a gift for writing poetry about love and I found this to be very touching! If you are someone who enjoys poetry about love then you should consider checking out this book!

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long live the words of the lovers, the yearners, and the ones who give shape to our deepest longings with their pen. Maya's poetry has me falling in love with the art of the poem all over again. This gorgeous collection of love poems is one I'll be revisiting again and again.

[Carla]

Lovely and thoughtful poems by this always interesting poet.

[Gus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very little substance. Found it very empty, trite and forgettable.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

“One Way or Another” sets the stage for the collection. Love in an orbit circling back to us, unbidden and dis-possessive. New layers keep revealing themselves.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The World Was All Before Them” (p. 12)

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read: September 10, 2026, Thursday

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book! I just keep rereading, finding more depth with each read. Maya Popa is a gift to all who love poetry!