1455’s Author Series continues virtually with Chelsea B. DesAutels, who will read from A Dangerous Place.
Early in her powerful, affecting debut, DesAutels writes: “I always mention gratitude because / people like that ending.” Unflinching in its candor, this is the story of a woman with two swellings in her belly: a nascent baby, and a cancerous tumor. The poet could focus on the particulars of the medical case, using language from a traditional illness narrative. Instead, she gives us the basics, then gathers up surprising and expansive material from various landscapes— the Black Hills, the prairies of Texas, the mountains, switchgrass, and, especially, the neighboring buffalo, to which she feels a profound connection. DesAutels’s metaphors strike home; they are counterpoints, balm to the uncertainty and grief that make us uncomfortable. The book moves elegantly from its dark beginnings to a transcendent thankfulness. With healing lyricism, she writes: “And I imagine the white sheets as heron wings. / And the whirring machines are white eggs. / And the worried voices are sunlight on water.”
Purchase A Dangerous Place
1455 is thrilled to partner with The Potter’s House bookshop.
Event Details
January 20 | 7:00 PM | FREE EVENT
1455’s Founding Director Sean Murphy will speak with Chelsea about this collection, and the contemporary poetry (and publishing) landscape. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions prior to or during the conversation. Submit your questions ahead of time by emailing info @1455litarts.org.
1455’s Author Series events are free, but you can make a donation to support us in offering accessible programing.
Tune into this event on Facebook at the event time to watch the live stream!
About Chelsea B. DesAutels
Chelsea B. DesAutels is a poet living in Minneapolis. Her debut poetry collection, A Dangerous Place, released from Sarabande Books in October 2021. Chelsea’s work appears in Ploughshares, Copper Nickel, Adroit Journal, Massachusetts Review, Willow Springs, Pleiades, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere. A Tin House Scholar, winner of the Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize from the Missouri Review, and a National Poetry Series finalist, Chelsea earned her MFA from the University of Houston, where she was the recipient of the Inprint Verlaine Prize in Poetry and served as Poetry Editor of Gulf Coast. She has received support from the Anderson Center at Tower View, Vermont Studio Center, Minnesota Northwoods Writers’ Conference, Community of Writers, and others.
Some of the many places Chelsea has called home include South Dakota, New York, Minnesota, and Texas. In addition to her MFA, Chelsea holds degrees from the University of Minnesota Law School and Wellesley College. You can find her on Twitter @cbdesautels.
