Empty Mirror

a literary magazine

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Empty Mirror 25th Anniversary

Empty Mirror celebrated its 25th anniversary on May 31, 2025! While we are currently on hiatus, we invite you to enjoy a quarter century of writing and art in our archives.

Click to read any of the pieces featured below, read more from the category, or refresh the page for a fresh selection!

On Literature

Independence Day by Richard Ford

Linda Lenhoff’s Top Ten Books

Top Ten List Contributor

In Watermelon Sugar

Bruce Hodder’s Ten Favourite Books

Bruce Hodder

More Essays and Interviews

Poetry

No. 22 D / image credit: D. Enck

Three poems by Nate Maxson

Nate Maxson

Sunrise, courtesy http://www.sxc.hu/profile/jcash

6 short poems by Sparrow

Sparrow

More Poetry

Beat Generation

Kerouac and Van Gogh -- Paul Maher Jr.

This is IT: Van Gogh and Kerouac

Paul Maher Jr.

The Beats: A Short Introduction by David Sterritt

Review – The Beats: A Very Short Introduction by David Sterritt

Denise Enck

Iron Curtain Journals by Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg’s Iron Curtain Journals, reviewed by Marc Olmsted

Marc Olmsted

The Intersection of Buddhism and the Beat Generation

The Intersection of Buddhism and the Beat Generation

Sean Negus

More About the Beat Generation

Visual Art

bloxed (detail)

Visual poetry by Richard Biddle aka (bid)

Richard Biddle aka (bid)

8 new mixed-media pieces by Claudio Parentela

Claudio Parentela

More Art

Essays

Alison Winfield-Burns memoir

(Part VI) Alison Winfield-Burns memoir

Alison Winfield Burns

Dearly Beloved - Nanette Jordan

Dearly Beloved, Part I: Growing up in 1950s San Francisco

Nanette Jordan

More Essays

The EM newsletter

Receive fresh poetry, reviews, essays, art, and literary news every Wednesday!

Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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