Healing looks a lot like living.

Kelsey D. Mahaffey is a Nashville poet who keeps half her heart in New Orleans.  She needs music & nature like breath & water, and walks the earth barefoot beside three humans and the ghost of a bow-legged cat. She is certified as a Listener Poet with The Good Listening Project. Her work can be seen in: Pinch, SWING Magazine, Deep South Magazine, Rat's Ass Review, The Miserere Review, Arkansas Review, Pensive: A Global Journal for Spirituality & the Arts, The Sunlight Press, Halfway Down the Stairs, Cumberland River Review, Writers Resist, Eunoia Review, Soul Forte, and The Keeping Room at Minerva Rising Press. She is the author of the chapbook, No Fault of Water, published by Finishing Line Press. Her favorite food is arugula. 

​Where to Find me: Events and Interviews

AWP 2026 - Friday, 1-2 p.m. No Fault of Water book signing at booth 428, Baltimore, MD
​Featured reader for the Pinch Journal Fall 2025 Release Party - Saturday, September 26, 7 p.m. at Novel Bookstore, Memphis, TN

Writing in the Wild - Friday, March 13, 10 a.m. at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville, TN

Writing in the Wild - Friday, February 13, 10 a.m. at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville, TN

Writing in the Wild - Friday, January 9, 10 a.m. at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville, TN

​Writing in the Wild - Friday, December 12, 10 a.m. at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville, TN

Writing in the Wild - Friday, November 14, 10 a.m. at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville, TN

Writing in the Wild - Friday, October 10, 10 a.m. at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville, TN
 
Writing in the Wild - Friday, September 12, 10 a.m. at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville, TN

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