Why I started this newsletter (for me and for you):
This newsletter is for everyone: poets and non-poets, readers and non-readers. If you’re human, if you sometimes feel bewildered, overwhelmed, ecstatic, uneasy, contented, alert, uneasy—then, yours is the mind I wish to invite into the small, crystalline feeling-world of poetry.
Poetry Today is where I reflect on my great passion for poetry, wonder, and mindset, with a nice helping of apocryphal and weird literary stuff sprinkled in (see: Emily Dickinson’s gingerbread recipe). Part of my mission is to debunk the notion that academic research is inaccessible or riddled with jargon, or that poetry is “hard.” I share tidbits of my PhD on the role of wonder and excerpts of essays and reviews I’m writing for Poetry and elsewhere in an accessible way—otherwise, truly, what is the point.
Each Friday, I curate Poems for Your Weekend (PoetryRx), a round up of poems based on a particular situation or condition. For example, “Poems to treat the winter blues.” (You can also follow my poetry curation on Instagram @thepoetryrx.)
I guarantee that there’s a poem waiting to speak to you. I want to help you find each other.
Who am I?
I’m Maya C. Popa, a Romanian-American writer, editor, and teacher based in NYC.
I’m the author of two collections of poetry, Wound is the Origin of Wonder and American Faith, and the Poetry Editor of Publishers Weekly. I teach poetry at NYU.
I’m also the founder of the Conscious Writers Collective for dedicated writers looking for an alternative to an MFA program, or for post-MFA students seeking a bridge into the rest of their writing lives. It’s the place for writers ready to hit unsubscribe on drama and embrace growth through 5+ group meetings a month with me, and regular sessions with visiting writers and publishing professionals.
I also offer replays of past courses.
Read Me
The paperback of Wound is the Origin of Wonder is out this June from W. W. Norton.
Here are some lovely things writers I admire have said about it…
