Poetry By Leah Wellbaum

John Brighenti CC





Rapunzel’s Lover Patricia 

please grow the hairs 
sprouting from your moles 

I will braid them into a thick rope 
I will get us out of this 

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Leah Wellbaum's poems explore how one can survive in contemporary capitalist society as a neurodivergent person with a prevailing sense of existential crisis. As a queer and gender-fluid, Wellbaum navigates intimacy, codependence, intrusive thoughts, and what it means to find both joy and dread in the mundane. 
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With absurdism at the forefront Wellbaum offer readers a seat aboard the rollercoaster of a touring musician, guiding them through natural American landscapes and questionable hotels. Despite the romantic and existential spirals on and off the road, Wellbaum's hope is to never abandon a sense of humor. Their work is peppered with self-doubt, spiritual whiplash, and ambivalence as they explore and examine the absurdity of having a body  they are both compelled and repelled by. ​