The author of over 30 books of poetry and prose, Kyger was associated with the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, the Beat Generation, Black Mountain, and the New York School.

In Reconstructing the Beats, Amy L. Friedman calls Kyger "an important link between several major axes of American poetry and writing in the twentieth century.

"[2] Linda Russo, in the webzine Jacket's edition devoted to Kyger, notes that "there is no one way to talk about her work except as that of a singular individual.

"[3] Kyger's early poetry was influenced by Charles Olson's "projective verse" concept of letting breath and open construction, rather than rhyme and syntax, guide poetic composition.

Themes—arising from her practice of Zen Buddhism, study of consciousness, explorations of ancient Greek and Native American mythologies, frequent travels to Mexico, observations of the natural landscape, and daily life in a small coastal town—continue from book to book, like installments in an autobiography.

In her 2015 notes from an earlier interview, Kyger recalls that the philosophers inspired her interest in Zen Buddhism: "Heidegger had come to the study of 'nothing.'

Kyger moved to San Francisco 1957 at the age of 22, where she met Richard Brautigan, who introduced her to City Lights Bookstore and the bohemian neighborhood of North Beach.

Working in Brentano's bookstore in the City of Paris department store by day and sharing her poetry at The Place bar by night, Kyger became a part of the literary scene and she was invited to join the Sunday Meetings where she read her poems aloud.

Snyder introduced Kyger to Philip Whalen, and they became lifelong friends, sharing the sensibilities that defined their similar poetic styles.

While living in Japan, Kyger wrote poetry, studied Buddhism with Ruth Fuller Sasaki at Ryosen-an—the zendo of the First Zen Institute's Kyoto branch, learned flower arranging, taught English, and acted in small roles in Japanese B movies.

During this period, in addition to writing poems that would be included in her first book, Kyger recorded her travels in diaries, which were published in 1981 as The Japan and India Journals 1960–1964.

The autobiographical text—which chronicles, in part, her growing frustration with Snyder's expectations and Ginsberg's antics—is considered an important document of the Beat era, offering a rare female perspective on the male-centric movement.

"[10] In January 1964, Kyger left Snyder to his studies in Japan and returned alone, her marriage disintegrated, to San Francisco.

The same year, she participated in the Berkeley Poetry Conference, meeting poets Charles Olson and Ted Berrigan.

The grasses are light brown and ocean comes in long shimmering lines under the fleet from last night which dozes now in the early morning

In 1970, she separated from Jack Boyce, and the following year, she bought a house on the Bolinas Mesa, which she shared with Peter Warshall.

In 1977, she also became a regular teacher in the summer writing program at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Beginning in the mid-80s and continuing for almost three decades, Kyger and Guravich frequently traveled to Mexico, often to Oaxaca, but also to Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Chiapis, Patzcuaro, Michoacan and Veracruz.

These trips provided inspiration for several volumes of Kyger's poetry, including Phenomenological, an edition in the series A Curriculum of the Soul that explores the nature of consciousness.

Kyger describes her work in her 2005 artist statement: The shape of the day, the words of the moment, what's happening around me in the world of interior and exterior space—these are my writing concerns.

Living in a semi-rural environment the cast of characters in my poems are often the quail, deer, raccoons, coyote bush, oaks, the ocean, the weather, and a few treasured friends.

As the speaker states, "another person passed simplicity on to you," which suggests it is a lifestyle to be shared in hopes of helping those with "fear and hate" (2-3, 11).

Kyger died at age 82 on March 22, 2017, at her home in Bolinas, California, from lung cancer, in the company of her husband, Donald Guravich.