[2] She enrolled in a doctoral program in English at State University of New York at Albany from 1964 to 1966 where she was also a teaching fellow.

[4] Her poetry was influenced by the Beat Poets, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton.

[5] Her poems feature incomplete sentences, pauses, short lines, sudden revelations, and "a breathless quality".

[3] She also taught creative writing workshops at various public venues such as libraries and her home in Niskayuna, New York.

[7][4][8] She also edited anthologies, appeared in others, and was the subject of the documentary film Lyn Lifshin: Not Made of Glass by director Mary Ann Lynch.

[3] Later in life, she divided her time between a home in Niskayuna, New York and a residence in Vienna, Virginia.