Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Neil Meili

Monthly Archives: July 2019

Marilyn in the Mountains

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Travel / tagged Marilyn Monroe / July 21, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
Sixty years after
the release of the film
returning again to
The River of No Return

Stepping again in a river
that you can’t step in twice
sleeping again in a cabin
by the cabin where you slept

Listening again to the rapids
that run over the same rocks
and still chew at the roots
of the same bent tree

Listening for the whispers
of the words
you went away without saying
the words 
we are all still waiting to hear
2 Replies

Thanking the Stars

Nature / July 20, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
This star 
I’m wishing on might be gone

But counting as I only can
In light moments not in years

Must send as soon as now
to it and all the dear ones gone

thank you thank you for the light
and condolences to the next of kin
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Chivalry Was Not Dead But Damp

Relationships / July 19, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
It was a dark and stormy knight
that led his lame horse 
through winter wet and counted out his woes

An unending driz
ran down his rusty helmet
and burned and blurred his visored eyes

He was as cross
as the frayed cross on his tunic
and swearing oaths at all the oaths he’d sworn

Damsels, damn all damsels
their gratitude had seldom lasted
beyond the ride back to the castle

Today he felt more kinship with the dragon
and would have fain laid down his sword
at the mouth of any breath-warmed cave
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For Mary Who Loves Horses

Audio Recordings, Cowboy Poetry, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / July 18, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
I have ridden the fence line
without believing in fences

I have been one with the movement of horse
the strength and speed of horse
the grace of horse and the
soul of horse

I have been one with the wind
and the high rolling hills
and the sky

I have stepped down
with my hands filled with staples and pliers

For the welfare of cattle and neighbours
who still have need of believing
in fences

Image by Michael Gaida from Pixabay

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Small Town Grief

Remembering / tagged Death, Media Overload, Small Town / July 17, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
When a boy in our school died
from a word we could say but not spell
it was the only death to count

There was no tv to diminish by compare
and spread our grief so thin
it would not cover him
2 Replies

Alkali

Nature, Ranch Life / July 16, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
The hills 
came down to the lake to drink

Found it salt
and crumpled back to wait for rain
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Home Made Ice Cream

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / July 15, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
When I was five we lived on a ranch
still forty miles and forty years
away from electric power

We only got to eat ice cream
when hail lay deep enough on the ground
to be scooped into the old hand mixer

Many a hot evening in August and July
five of us sat on those hard ranch steps
looking out at the Western sky

Watching the black clouds and the grey
building and rolling our way

Silently praying our protestant Hail Marys
four for and Dad against
2 Replies

The Car of Joy

Personal Growth / July 13, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
The car of joy 
runs on wheels 
of completed grief
2 Replies

Road Trip

Relationships, Travel / July 12, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
There is a stretch
in the long loping hills of Montana
where the laws of speed and time are not enforced

Where over every hill there’s another hill
that far to the bottom
and that far up the other side

A-sail, a-sail on an earth-rocked ship
two thousand feet above an ancient sea

Wheels endlessly humming
to the radio’s timeless tunes

Suspended forever midway
between those you’re running to
and those you’re running from
1 Reply

Hermit Envy

Ranch Life / tagged Loneliness, Solitude / July 11, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
The thing about being alone
is finding someone to lie to
about how good it feels
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  1. Nancy Fierstien on Hard to Get War Poems to RhymeJune 3, 2025

    Thanks for sharing this one, my friend. It packs a good punch, line after line. I'll be glad to give…

  2. Christie flaman on Going ProMay 17, 2025

    Old cowboy saying: Never a horse that couldn’t be rode, never a cowboy that couldn’t be thrown Thank you for…

  3. Ken Christopher on Going ProMay 16, 2025

    That’s pretty funny, and fun to read

  4. Nancy Fierstien on Spring Came InMay 12, 2025

    You've certainly captured these crazy times with finesse and grace, my Friend!

  5. Nancy Fierstien on Remembering WhenMay 8, 2025

    I'm betting "slow motion" was never your style!

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