In Mythical Man, David Ly builds, and then tears down, an army of men in a quest to explore personhood in the 21st century. Tenderness, toxic masculinity, nuances of queer love, and questions of race and identity mix in Ly’s poetry, casting a spell that enters like “a warm tongue on a first date.” Mythical Man is an authentic and accomplished debut.

David Ly is a poet from Vancouver, BC. He graduated SFU with a BA in World Literature, English, and Creative Writing and a Master of Publishing. He is the author of the chapbook Stubble Burn (2018). His poetry has also appeared in publications such as PRISM international, The Puritan, carte blanche, Pulp Literature, The Maynard, Plenitude, and The /tƐmz/ Review. He has been long-listed for the Thomas Morton Memorial Prize in Poetry and short-listed for the Magpie Award in Poetry. Mythical Man is David’s first full-length collection. Twitter @dlylyly.

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In his aching debut, David Ly shatters any myth that racism doesn’t continue to pervade queer spaces. Thick with desire, and self-interrogation, these poems reject normative ideas of manhood to create something new.

Vivek Shraya