Children Should Be Been But Not Heard

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Parents used to say this,
and not just parents, but every adult—
the nuns, the priests at church,
the teachers at school,
uncles, aunts, even older cousins,
they all wanted me to be seen
but not heard; and I'd ask them
why they wanted me to be seen
but not heard, and not, say,
heard but not seen,
or perhaps seen but not tasted,
or maybe even heard but not smelled?
And they would say, stop being smart,
which confused me more,
since I thought smart was the goal...
so I kept on talking, asking questions,
until finally they answered
by making me kneel on a ruler,
or with sharp smack across the mouth,
after which I told them:
adults should be seen but not felt.