Sandra McGarry was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her early years were spent playing in project courtyards, learning lessons at Boston Public Schools, and knowing that words were important to write down. She proved it by writing on a house wall and being admonished for it.

Sandra received a BA in Elementary Education from The College of Saint Elizabeth in New Jersey. Later she earned an MA in Education. She spent 28 years in the classroom with young students. The poetry they taught her with their questions and comments and through their assignments made her a better teacher. They taught her more than she taught them.

Sandra retired and moved to Colorado with her husband to be near their children. She self-published her first book of collected poems, Wild Sweetness, in 2019.

She has been published in Dove Tales, A Literary Journal of the Arts, Pilgrimage, Patterson Review, Colorado Magazine, Bristlecone on-line, Encore-the National Federation of State Poetry Societies and numerous other anthologies.

Sandra McGarry’s forthcoming poetry collection is Here and Elsewhere, due to be released by Panhandle Creek Press on October 6th, 2026.