At Black Mountain, he studied with Paul Goodman and poet Charles Olson, became friends with Fielding Dawson and Ed Dorn, and worked in the school's print shop.

He left the school in January 1953 without taking a degree, eventually settling in New York and working in a print shop while continuing to write poetry.

Drawing from Life, posthumously published in 1997, gathered 92 columns written for the Village Voice.

Library Journal wrote that Drawing from Life "emphasizes several favorite themes: baseball, politics, and the role of the changing seasons in our lives".

[1] Don't Touch the Poet: The Life and Times of Joel Oppenheimer, by Lyman Gilmore, was published by Talisman House in 1998, and Remembering Joel Oppenheimer, by Robert J. Bertholf, was published by Talisman House in 2006.