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

Rosamund Lehmann

Aching for Meaning: The Work of Novelist Rosamond Lehmann

Kathryn Hummel

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

David Gitin’s Ten Favorite Books

David Gitin

More Essays and Interviews

Poetry

pier artifact / credit: d.enck

Two poems by Nate Maxson

Nate Maxson

southbound / credit: em

Five poems on the Beat Generation

Alan Catlin

More Poetry

Beat Generation

poet and painter Kay Johnson / Beat Hotel resident

Poet Kay Johnson, aka Kaja

David Gitin

The Haunted Life and Other Writings by Jack Kerouac

Paul Maher Jr. considers Kerouac’s Haunted Life

Paul Maher Jr.

Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (1)

Empty Mirror

Bob Kaufman's Lonely Vigil by Michael Amundsen

Bob Kaufman’s Lonely Vigil – Michael Amundsen

Michael Amundsen

More About the Beat Generation

Visual Art

Vacancy - JC Olsthoorn

Land O’ Lakes: Highway 7 photographs

JC Olsthoorn

Urban Beat (detail) by Mardi de Veuve Alexis

9 mixed-media pieces by Mardi de Veuve Alexis

Mardi de Veuve Alexis

More Art

Essays

Photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/zeroy/5673872877/ Roy Ubu http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ CC-NC-ND

Irishry

John O'Kane

The Seed

The Seed

Rochelle Jewel Shapiro

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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