Mathias Svalina was born in Chicago, where his parents were both chemists. He is the author of five chapbooks as well as five collaboratively written chapbooks. His work has been published widely in journals such as American Letters & Commentary, The Boston Review, Diagram, jubilat, and Typo. He has won fellowships and awards from The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, The Iowa Review and New Michigan Press among other places. With Zachary Schomburg, he co-edits Octopus Magazine and Octopus Books. He currently teaches writing and literature in Denver, Colorado. Destruction Myth is his first book.

Books by Mathias Svalina:

Other poems on the web by Mathias Svalina:
Two poems
"Long Live the Riot Squad"
"Red Plastic Cup"
"But We Are All the Scattered Matter of Dead Stars, My Dear"
Five poems
Two poems
Four poems

Mathias Svalina's Blog.

About Destructtion Myth:

"was born in Chicago, where his parents were both chemists. He is the author of five chapbooks as well as five collaboratively written chapbooks. His work has been published widely in journals such as American Letters & Commentary, The Boston Review, Diagram, jubilat, and Typo. He has won fellowships and awards from The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, The Iowa Review and New Michigan Press among other places. With Zachary Schomburg, he co-edits Octopus Magazine and Octopus Books. He currently teaches writing and literature in Denver, Colorado. Destruction Myth is his first book."
—Kevin Prufer

"If I feel physically as if the top of my head is taken off and replaced with a soft serve ice cream machine, I am pretty sure it is poetry. Svalina’s book does no less, and also so much more. Read but also believe this book of fantastic lies. It’s like how you see a cat sitting there and you think ‘that is just a cat’ and then you realize that cat is God. Mathias Svalina has reinvented Yahweh as an Animorph. When this book is taught in college classrooms, students will curl up on the air conditioning vents and ask for salt."
—Anne Boyer

"Inspired, concise, often macabre yet always joyful, these creation myths are filled with a thousand odd, jagged miracles. A truly exhilarating read. Bravo!"
—Linh Dinh