One of the stories I have heard Sandra tell many times is about the time she and the family drove across country because her father received new orders. And so, she, her two sisters (I wasn’t born yet), her mother and father packed up their 1939 Oldsmobile and drove from the East to the West. During the night when the others were sleeping, her love for the desert was born on that long journey. Since Sandra was in-between elementary schools, father taught her math and the names of the constellations. Her love for reading was born (or perhaps deepened because she has most certainly always loved to read) during this time, too.

In the backseat, again while the others were sleeping except her father who was driving through the expansive and mysterious desert, she held a flashlight in her small hand to light the pages of her favorite book and read. In her own words:

“I immersed myself in books, read them as if they were my best friends, poured my heart into them. Sometimes at night when my father or mother had pulled over to the side of the road to sleep, I took out my trusty flashlight to read the last pages of my novel in the dark that surrounded us. Books took me away from myself, sparked my imagination, and nourished my mind and soul.”

How many books did this child of the military read while moving from one military base to another military base? How did the world of stories and characters help this child during the transition from what was familiar to what was to be the unfamiliar? One could say that her love of books grew into her love of poetry, inspiring her to be the poet she is today. Sandra began writing poetry when she was a child—“Poetry” appeared in 1960 in the Anthology of Western States High School Essays published by National Essay Association, Los Angeles, California. The list of her publications grew and grew. Her chapbooks are filled with poetry of depth and imagery, drawing from those places deep within her life and experiences—and her profound love of language and poetry.

— Leilani Squire