Cynthia Lee Macdonald (February 2, 1928 – August 3, 2015) was an American poet, educator, and psychoanalyst.

[1] Macdonald was born in Manhattan to screenwriter Leonard Lee and his wife Dorothy Kiam.

[4] After changing her focus to poetry, Macdonald received a master's degree in writing and literature from Sarah Lawrence College.

[6] She co-founded the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston with fellow poet Stanley Plumly in 1979.

She was a member of the English Department at the University of Houston until her retirement in 2004,[7] receiving the Esther Farfel Award for faculty excellence.