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Poems

September 2006

Meeting a friend again after thirty years

by X.J. Kennedy

Take off that mask. I know it’s you.
Those wrinkles, sunken chin,
And goggled eyes can’t quite disguise
Your wry familiar grin.

This is our mutual Halloween.
As though we mean to scare,
We face each other through a screen
Of fake teeth, whitened hair.


X.J. Kennedy is

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This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 25 September 2006, on page 71
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