Kelly was born in Palo Alto, California, grew up in southern Indiana and lived much of her adult life in central Illinois. An intensely private woman, little is known about her life. She was married to Michael Madonick, a poet and fiction writer; they had three children.
She taught at the University of California at Irvine, Purdue University, and Warren Wilson College. Along with Madonick, Kelly was a professor of English and Rhetoric at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She died on October 14, 2016 in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.
Michael Collier, Stanley Plumly, eds. (1999). "The Garden of the Trumpet Tree". The new Bread Loaf anthology of contemporary American poetry. UPNE. ISBN 978-0-87451-950-1.CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Susan Aizenberg, Erin Belieu, Jeremy Countryman, eds. (2001). "Song". The extraordinary tide: new poetry by American women. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11962-7.CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Roger Weingarten, Richard Higgerson, eds. (2001). "Black Swann". Poets of the New Century. David R. Godine Publisher. ISBN 978-1-56792-177-9.CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Bill Henderson, ed. (2003). Pushcart prize XXVII: best of the small presses. Pushcart Press. ISBN 978-1-888889-35-2.
Bill Henderson, ed. (2004). The Pushcart Prize XXIX 2005: Best of the Small Presses. W. W. Norton & Company Limited. ISBN 978-1-888889-39-0.
Paul Muldoon, David Lehman, eds. (2008). "The Wolf". The best American poetry, 2005. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-5738-1.CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)