Empty Mirror

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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

Walt Whitman's Talbot Wilson Notebook page

Visionary Markings: Em Dashes and Ellipses in Walt Whitman’s “Talbot Wilson” Notebook

Tom Holmes

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

footnotes from history — the debord variations

Colin Campbell Robinson

curve / credit: de

Two poems by Lynne Schmidt

Lynne Schmidt

More Poetry

Beat Generation

Jack Kerouac by Allen Ginsberg

Charged Vision: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg

Corey Wade

Allen Ginsberg College Censorship - Pavan - Loretta Graceffo

Resisting the Thought Police: The Untold Story of Allen Ginsberg’s Stand Against College Censorship

Loretta Graceffo

On the Road manuscript scroll - Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road Manuscript Scroll

Empty Mirror

Henri Cru in Greenwich Village, 1987. Photo courtesy of Henri Cru.

“The Old Maestro”: an interview with Kerouac friend Henri Cru by Dave Moore

Dave Moore

More About the Beat Generation

Visual Art

Integrant 11 collage by Lita Poliakova

Integrant: Collages by Lita Poliakova

Lita Poliakova

monologue I Idetail) by hiromi suzuki

monologue: visual poetry by hiromi suzuki

hiromi suzuki

More Art

Essays

White Jesus -- Todd Clouser

White Jesus – A reflection on summer camp and Charlottesville

Todd Clouser

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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