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

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

Wankers, Burds, and Skag: Heteroglossia in Trainspotting

Stacey Mankoff

Poetry as a Last Letter: Thomas James and his Influences Sylvia Plath and Georg Trakl by Lauren Davis

Poetry as a Last Letter: Thomas James and his Influences Sylvia Plath and Georg Trakl

Lauren Davis

More Essays and Interviews

Poetry

Semiahmoo window (detail) / photo by Denise Enck

Six poems by Zheng Xiaoqiong/郑小琼, translated from Chinese by Zhou Xiaojing

Zhou Xiaojing and Zheng Xiaoqiong

Farandole by Julie Sargent

Poems by Lucía Estrada, translated by Olivia Lott

Olivia Lott and Lucía Estrada

More Poetry

Beat Generation

Gregory Corso mug shot -- prison

Poetic Licence: The Crime and Hard Time of Gregory Corso, or A Portrait of the Poet as a Young Felon

Gregory Stephenson

Howard Hart and Raymond Foye, by T. Walden

Remembering poet Howard Hart

Empty Mirror

ted joans interview teducated

The Teducated Mouth: John Barbato interviews Ted Joans

Ted Joans

Kerouac: On the Binge by Kenton Crowther

Book Review – Kenton Crowther’s Kerouac on the Binge

Denise Enck

More About the Beat Generation

Visual Art

Verboten by Samy Sfoggia

Photography: Verboten by Samy Sfoggia

Samy Sfoggia

The Blues (detail) by Katherine Jeanne Wood

Seven paintings by Katherine Jeanne Wood

Katherine Jeanne Wood

More Art

Essays

drawing of man with guitar

Being There – Michelle Bracken

Michelle Bracken

Great Northern Railway logo / Joe Mabel

How to Die Like You Meant It

Jeff Beddow

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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