Once Upon a Midnight Scroll: Poems for the Overstimulated & Disillusioned

Heidi Becker’s debut poetry collection follows one chronically online twentysomething's journey from filming “brain rot” skits in her parents’ living room to sparking an anti-capitalist awakening across social media. Using brain rot language and social media speak against itself to reveal the problematic impacts of a generation that is chronically online, Once Upon a Midnight Scroll memorializes the viral words of writer and creator Heidi Becker. From the intangible internet to the physical page, Becker hopes this collection will serve as an irreverent antidote to the over-stimulation of modern life, mixing raw truths and playful cynicism into a much-needed reality check that you can take in all at once or in small doses. This collection of deeply honest poems explores themes of self-worth, identity, love, and connection. With humor, empathy, and a wicked wit, she explores the anxieties of today’s youth through the all-too-familiar nostalgia that hits during a midnight scroll, when our eyes glaze over while watching beauty and fitness routines, war footage, celebrity gossip, wildfires, relationship tips, and ad after ad after ad. This takedown of modern internet culture is sure to have you asking, “Is this play about us?”