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

Chaucer and the Art of the Grift

Chaucer and the Art of the Grift

K. A. Laity

Pablo Neruda and the Virtues of Laziness by Joseph Rodgers

Pablo Neruda and the Virtues of Laziness

Joseph Rodgers

More Essays and Interviews

Poetry

BOB KAUFMAN poet of ecstatic litany by Matt Hill

Matt Hill

Skagit Snow / credit: D.Enck

Five poems by David Kherdian

David Kherdian

More Poetry

Beat Generation

Bob Kaufman's Lonely Vigil by Michael Amundsen

Bob Kaufman’s Lonely Vigil – Michael Amundsen

Michael Amundsen

Here to Learn: Remembering Paul Bowles by Mark Terrill

Here to Learn: Remembering Paul Bowles by Mark Terrill

Mark Terrill

Big Sur film - Kerouac

Jack Kerouac – “Big Sur” Movie Trailer

Denise Enck

Railroad Earth - Photo is Road to Nowhere by Blue Betty via http://www.sxc.hu/profile/bluebetty, photoshopped by Empty Mirror

October in the Railroad Earth – Jack Kerouac

Empty Mirror

More About the Beat Generation

Visual Art

Fighting Chance (detail) - LIta Kenyon

All These Sensations: 11 artworks by Lita Kenyon

Lita Kenyon

Aesop (detail) - Alec Clayton

In the Jungle: Abstract Paintings of Life in the Wild

Alec Clayton

More Art

Essays

animals, seven days old

Animals, Seven Days Old

Lake Vargas

This High

Ben Shaberman

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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