on the farm grampa forbid drinking
smoking swearing though with his
deafness some must have gone on
behind his back but us kids didn’t
hear it my dad however was grampa’s
partner and obeyed his rules though
he did smoke in the house he also
swore around the place but in french
so that us kids also would exclaim
a loud “merde!” when occasion
demanded although we did not know
the meaning yet today I hear kids
quite little ones saying words that in
former times would have gotten their
mouths washed out with soap I wonder
if they are ignorant of the meanings too!
2022 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in Not enough vets for pets.
