Macdonald's poems sing of the Maritimes, and what it was like to grow up by the sea. He writes about the memories of a grandfather, and walking in the woods with him, and feeling safe, and carrying the axes and buck saws and hardboiled eggs. MacDonald writes about farming on Prince Edward Island where he grew up, and where the earth is hard and red. The poems also revolve around church life, and the daily life of making a living on the eastern seaboard, buying a car, a first marriage, and the loneliness that a writer can feel when he is left with his thoughts. MacDonald is an award-winning poet and children's author whose book Chung Lee Loves Lobsters won the L.M. Montgomery Children's Literature Award in 1990. He was also awarded the Bennett Car Award for We're All In This Together. He teaches English and history at Souris Regional High School near Charlottetown.