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

IF by Rudyard Kipling

The Middle Word in Life: Dennis Hopper and Rudyard Kipling’s “If”

Stephen Lee Naish

Mt. Baker seen from Mt. Watson. Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bthompson/5011625855/ Ben Thompson

Nature As Muse: The World of Fine Writing

Doug Scott

More Essays and Interviews

Poetry

boulevard ii / credit: de

a tribute to creeley — Steve Dalachinsky

Steve Dalachinsky

Le Khmer Bleu (detail) by J. H. Martin

Dew Drops: Four Poems

J. H. Martin

More Poetry

Beat Generation

The Stray Bullet - William S. Burroughs in Mexico

Review – The Stray Bullet: William S. Burroughs in Mexico

Denise Enck

Seymour Wyse, Horace Mann School, 1940, courtesy of Dave Moore

Kerouac — “My really best friend…” an interview with Seymour Wyse by Dave Moore

Dave Moore

The Rebirth of the Author in On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Rebirth of the Author in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road

Eric V. Patterson

Laura Corsiglia and Ted Joans

Remembering Ted Joans – Beat / Surrealist Poet & Artist

Denise Enck

More About the Beat Generation

Visual Art

Raoul (detail) - Jeffrey Cyphers Wright

Insignia: Collages by Jeffrey Cyphers Wright

Jeffrey Cyphers Wright

J.I. Kleinberg - word collages

6 found-word collages by J.I. Kleinberg

J. I. Kleinberg

More Art

Essays

animals, seven days old

Animals, Seven Days Old

Lake Vargas

Candy Darling on her Deathbed by Peter Hujar, used as cover photo for I Am a Bird Now / fair use

Candy Says, by Kaiya Gordon

Kaiya Gordon

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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