An Eyeful of Hennepin Neon

Rheanna Haaland (she/her/they/them) could say this book is about you. But it isn't.
Haaland was raised by wolves on the prairie but relocated to Minneapolis, after finishing a bachelor's degree in writing. Unsatisfied with writing alone, they considered several additional lines of work to compliment the necessary exorcism of poetry (including but not confined to copy editor, bookseller, web series producer, script writer, prep cook, pizza transportation specialist and actual batman). Haaland settled finally on pursuing a career as a surgeon.

While currently attending Northwestern Health Science University Haaland also works as a medical scribe in a local emergency room. (Countless HIPPA-compliant stories about will almost certainly prompt future collections. She loves it.) She will remain in school for the foreseeable future, while continuing to write.

Haaland was the 3rd place winner of the 2018 Erotica Grand SlaMN Championship for spoken word poetry. Their work has appeared most recently in Auk Contraire, and The Same. The poem "-Me, Everyday" was previously printed in the 2019 edition of Red Weather Magazine, alongside many of her other pieces not published in this book. Haaland's first collection An Eyeful of Hennepin Neon (The Poetry Box, 2018) is available through The Poetry Box website. She lives in Minneapolis with her outspoken tabby cat, Brummell, whose input on molecular geometry and organic chemistry homework is less than helpful. Both of them thank you for reading this far.

An Eyeful of Hennepin Neon is a story of loss, thrill, and temptation, for anyone who has ever tried to claw their way out of savage memories with lonely sex and hard liquor. Haaland's poems will lie through their teeth as they avoid eye contact with sensations and situations they refuse to dignify with names. From barbed-wire wastelands to the bright neon streets of a flyover metropolis, this is a story that won't take silence for an answer.