Lyn Lifshin

Lyn Lifshin
Lyn Lifshin
Born	Barre, Vermont
Language	English
Nationality	American
Education	Bread Loaf Writer's Conference
Alma mater	Syracuse University; University of Vermont
Genre	Poetry
Website
www.lynlifshin.com

Lyn Diane Lifshin is an American poet and teacher.

Life

Born in Barre, Vermont, she was raised in Middlebury, Vermont and is now 87 years old. 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 To date, however, there is no comprehensive bibliography of her publications and unpublished manuscripts.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 (ed.). 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.

External links

• Author's website
• Contemporary Authors Biography offprint - Lifshin, Lyn Diane (1942-)
• Lyn Lifshin: A Critical Study, by Hugh Fox
• Article on Lyn Lifshin
• Poetry by Lyn Lifshin, The Commonline Journal, #011