Chelsea B. DesAutels

Biography

Chelsea B. DesAutels is the author of A Dangerous Place (Sarabande, 2021), which was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice. She has received fellowships from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and Yaddo, and her work has appeared in Ploughshares, River Teeth, and The Southern Review.

See Work

POETRY / Summer 2026

Long Haul

By Chelsea B. DesAutels

The flight was long. We didn’t touch.
Somewhere over the Atlantic,
I ordered my complimentary glass
of red wine.

POETRY / Summer 2026

Because We Are Older Now

By Chelsea B. DesAutels

Last night, we made love for the first time
in a long while. You held me as you always
have, a little uncertainly, and then with resolve.

POETRY / Summer 2026

Ballycastle

By Chelsea B. DesAutels

It isn’t the most beautiful town on the coast,
but I adore it: the crumbling friary said to be haunted
by the Black Nun, the stone house on a short cliff.