Born in Barre, Vermont, she was raised in Middlebury, Vermont. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Syracuse University and a master's degree in English from the University of Vermont (writing a thesis on Dylan Thomas). She also studied at Brandeis University, the Bread Loaf School of English and attended the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference.
Lifshin moved to Schenectady, New York in the 1970s with her then husband, who worked for General Electric. She enrolled in a doctoral program in English at SUNY Albany, and began submitting her work for publication. She quickly began appearing in a variety of literary magazines. When she left SUNY, she began teaching creative writing workshops at various public venues such as libraries, as well as at her home in Niskayuna, New York. Eventually, she began earning a living primarily from workshops, readings, and visiting faculty positions.
Lifshin has been called "The Queen of the Lit Mags" and "The Queen of Modern Romance Poetry". Over 120 books and chapbooks of her work have been published. She has also edited four anthologies (appearing in innumerable others) and was the subject of the award-winning documentary film Not Made of Glass. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and cultural publications, including The American Scholar, Christian Science Monitor, Ploughshares, nthWORD, Blue Lake Review, Dunes Review, and Rolling Stone Magazine.
Bibliographers and literary critics would be hard-pressed to find a literary journal that has not published at least one Lifshin poem at one time or another. To date, however, there is no comprehensive bibliography of her publications and unpublished manuscripts.
She currently divides her time between a home in Niskayuna and a residence in Virginia.
Books and chapbooks (partial list)
Why is the House Dissolving, Open Skull Press, 1969
Leaves and Night Things, Baby John Press 1970
40 Days Apple Nights, Morgan Press, 1972
Black Apples, Crossing Press, 1973
Weeds and Woodsmoke, Bellevue Press, 1974
Poems, Konglomerati Press, 1974
The Old House Poems, Capra Press, 1975
Shaker House Poems, Sagarin Press, 1976 ISBN 0915298023
Women Early Plymouth, Morgan Press, 1977
Leaning South, Red Dust, 1977, ISBN 9780873760300
North Poems, Morgan Press
Offered By Owner, recording and book, Natalie Slohm, 1978
Glass, Morgan Press, 1978
Tangled Vines, Beacon Press, 1979
35 Sundays, Ommation Press, 1979
Appletree Lane, New Spirit Press, 1980
Ariadne's Thread, Harper and Row, 1982
Blue Dust New Mexico, Basilisk Press, 1982
Naked Charm, Illuminati, 1984, 1990
Madonna who Shifts for Herself, Applezaba, 1984
Kiss the Skin Off, Cherry Valley Press, 1985
Remember the Ladies, Ghost Dance Press, 1985
The Camping Madonna at Indian Lake, M.A.F Press, 1986
Red Hair and the Jesuit, Trout Creek Press, 1987
Raw Opals, Illuminati, 1987, ISBN 9780898072518
The Innocents, Buzzards Roost, 1987
Skin Divers, Krax, 1987
Red Hair and the Jesuit, Trout Creek Press, 1988
Colors in Cooper Black, Morgan Press
Not made of Glass, Karista Press, 1989
Reading Lips, Morgan Press, 1990
Lips Unsealed, Capra Press, 1990
Dance Poems, Ommation Press, 1990
Doctors, Applezaba, 1990
Tangled Vines 2nd ed, Harcourt Brace, 1992
Marilyn Monroe, Quiet Lion Press, 1994
Shooting Kodachromes in the Dark, Penumbra, 1994
Restrooms, Anyone?, JVC Books, 1997
Jesus Christ - Live and in the Flesh, Future Tense Books, 1997, ISBN 9780965319454
Cold Comfort. Black Sparrow. 1997. ISBN 978-1-57423-040-6. (reprint David R. Godine Publisher, 1997, ISBN 978-1-57423-040-6)
Before It's Light. David R. Godine. 1999. ISBN 978-1-57423-114-4.; (reprint Black Sparrow, 2001)
Blue Tattoo, Event Horizon, 2001
A New Film About A Woman in Love with the Dead, March Street Press, 2003
Jesus Christ Live, Future Tense Books, 2004
Another Woman's Story, Butcher Shop Press, 2004
When a Cat Dies. Moon Press. 2004. ISBN 9781937050191.
What Matters Most, Scintillating Publications, 2004
The Daughter I Don't Have, Plan B, 2005
Barbie Poems (Vol. 1), Lummox Press, 2005, ISBN 9781929878468
Barbie Poems (Vol. 2), Lummox Press, 2005, ISBN 9781929878475
She was Found Treading Water Deep out in the Ocean, Platonic 3 Way Press, 2005
The Licorice Daughter: My year with Ruffian, Texas Review Press, 2006
An Unfinished Story, FootHills Publishing, 2006
Poets (mostly) who…, World Parade, 2006
Lifshin, Lyn (2006). Another woman who looks like me: poems. David R. Godine Publisher. ISBN 978-1-57423-198-4.
In Mirrors, Presa Press, 2006
Autumn Wind, Portrait, 2007
Novemberly, ESP Press, 2007
92 Rapple Drive, Coatlism Press, 2008, ISBN 9780980207316
Persephone, Red Hen Press, 2008, ISBN 9781597091244
Nutley Pond, Goose River Press, 2008, ISBN 9781597130684
Lost in the Fog, Finishing Line Press, 2008, ISBN 9781599243429
Barbaro: Beyond Brokenness, Texas Review Press, 2009, ISBN 9781933896168
Lost Horses, Presa :S: Press, 2009
Katrina, Poetic Matrix Press, 2010, ISBN 9780982734308
Anthologies
McMahon, Michael (1975). "Ceremony". In Michael McMahon. Flowering after Frost: the anthology of contemporary New England poetry. Branden Books. ISBN 978-0-8283-1547-0.
Patrice Vecchione, ed. (2002). "Fat". The body eclectic: an anthology of poems. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-8050-6935-8.
Ginny Lowe Connors, ed. (2000). "My Mother Who Can't". Essential love: poems about mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. Grayson Books. ISBN 978-0-9675554-2-3.
Faye Moskowitz, ed. (1995). "My Mother's Obituary". Her Face in the Mirror. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-3615-0.
Richard Henry, ed. (2004). "Geese at Midnight". The blueline anthology. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0770-0.
Donna Michele Hill, ed. (2006). "Like Masaccio's; Because of This We Were Late; Sultry, Humid Running To the Metro; Hearing Howard Stern". Velvet Avalanche: A Collection of Erotic Poetry. satjah projects. ISBN 978-0-9737887-3-0.