Empty Mirror

a literary magazine

  • About
    • About Empty Mirror
    • Get in Touch
    • Support EM
    • Colophon
  • Submit
  • Contributors
  • Essays
  • On Literature
  • Poetry
  • Reviews
  • Art
  • Interviews
  • Beat
    • Beat Generation
    • Ted Joans Lives!
  • +
    • Fiction
    • Music & Film
    • News
    • On Writing
    • Book Collecting

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

Pablo Neruda and the Virtues of Laziness by Joseph Rodgers

Pablo Neruda and the Virtues of Laziness

Joseph Rodgers

Harold's, San Pedro; image copyright Marshall Astor, Food Fetishist, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeontheedge/125389576/ / CC BY CA

Joints

John O'Kane

More Essays and Interviews

Poetry

pier artifact / credit: d.enck

Two poems by Nate Maxson

Nate Maxson

cobblestones

Two Poems by Alessandra Bava

Alessandra Bava

More Poetry

Beat Generation

grass

The Great Consciousness of Life

Paul Maher Jr.

On the Road manuscript scroll - Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road Manuscript Scroll

Empty Mirror

Jerry Kamstra Weed, reviewed

On the Dangerous Edge of Things: Weed: Adventures of a Dope Smuggler by Jerry Kamstra, reviewed by Gregory Stephenson

Gregory Stephenson

The Creative Birth of Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac’s Creative Birth

Paul Maher Jr.

More About the Beat Generation

Visual Art

Son of Daedalus: poem with 2 paintings by Joost de Jonge

Joost de Jonge

River of eyes - River of agreement (detail) - collage by Selena Dixon

River Stories: collages by Selena Dixon

Selena Dixon

More Art

Essays

in the window / image by de from photo by milada vigerova

essays in the face of uncertainties

rob mclennan

Are Made Of - essay by Tomoé Hill

Are Made Of

Tomoé Hill

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.

Subscribe Submissions Support

There’s more to read!

  • On Literature
  • Beat Generation
  • Visual Art and Visual Poetry
  • Poetry
© 2000–2026 D. Enck / Empty Mirror.
Copyright of all content remains with its authors.
Privacy Policy · Privacy Tools · FTC disclosures