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

photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179931106

Charles Reznikoff’s “During the Second World War…” as Objectivist Ars Poetica

Chris Mustazza

17 Syllables: The Death of Traditional Haiku

M.A. Barrett

More Essays and Interviews

Poetry

the door / credit: em

Long Before the Peaceful Song: Poems

Sam Silva

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

More Poetry

Beat Generation

Kerouac: Avatar for American Buddhism by Michael Amundsen

Jack Kerouac: Avatar of American Buddhism

Michael Amundsen

City Lights Bookstore window

A. D. Winans Looks Back at the Beat Generation

A.D. Winans

William S. Burroughs and Cats

The Guardian and the Familiar: William S. Burroughs and Cats

Lee Watkins

In honor of Jack’s birthday: 4 Kerouac videos

Empty Mirror

More About the Beat Generation

Visual Art

Paintings by Abstract Painter Joost de Jonge

Joost de Jonge

Title goes up the side (detail) - collage by Alicia Cole

Three collages by Alicia Cole

Alicia Cole

More Art

Essays

Alison Winfield-Burns memoir

(Part VI) Alison Winfield-Burns memoir

Alison Winfield Burns

Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan

On Waiting

Yasmine Shamma

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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