Sarracino grew up in the immigrant neighborhood of Federal Hill in Providence, R.I., as a second-generation Italian-American. His first collection of poems, "The Idea of the Ordinary," was published in January 2003 by Orchises Press.

He has published widely on Walt Whitman and is currently working on a collection of poems about the Civil War. A chapbook of these poems was recently published by Parallel Press; poems from the collection have appeared in the "Beloit Poetry Journal," "The Laurel Review" and "Prairie Schooner."