February 2020 – Page 2 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Monthly Archives: February 2020

Ode to Akhmatova

Poems about Poetry / tagged Anna Akhmatova, Russia / February 17, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

And what is this sweetness
you have brought to our table
The gnawing at the bone of our pain

The Day After Valentines

Poems about Poetry, Relationships / February 15, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

For Albert Huffstickler

Huff reading love poems
at a North Austin bookstore

The part I remember is

She wanted me to say
forever, and I thought - why not
I have said forever so many times before

But now dear Huff
now that you have stepped into forever

What will you say to all of them now

Anna

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Gulag, Russia / February 15, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Could a drop of blood
from the pen of Anna Akhmatova
enter my blood
that I might write with a deeper red

A husband falls to the firing squad
a son in prison for no greater crime
than carrying his father’s name

Seventeen months by a Leningrad prison
she waits in line each day for word of life
mid screams of those who learn of death

She has been a poet for thirty years and more
woman in line asks, “can you describe this”
she becomes a poet now

A Valentines Poem with Thorns

Personal Growth, Relationships / tagged Love / February 14, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The beauty of a rose always
outweighs the pain
of the thorn

In this same spirit I would pray
that Valens be forgiven
their tines

Only when we bleed can we see
what lives within
the heart

Image by Capri23auto from Pixabay

Time-Lapse Prairie

Farm, Nature, Ranch Life / February 12, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Clouds
chase shadows
across the hide of hills

Blues
of light and dark
mix in palate ponds

Two antelope
enter from the left and gone

Jeanne-Marie Makes Bread

Poems about Poetry, Relationships / February 11, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

She thinks about
the stillness of hummingbird
and motion at the heart of stone

The love that holds
and the love that allows

The soft wisdom of sheep
and meaning in moon and stars

Flouring her hands
she kneads the poem and the bread

Shapes them with centuries
of deep woman knowing

Leans down
and kisses the rising loaf

What the Hell Villanelle

Poems about Poetry / February 10, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I thought, oh what the hell
since everything is but a dance
I’ll just write a villanelle

Though I may not ronde half so well
as the spinning peasants of old France
I thought, oh what the hell

Left footed stories I can tell
though you may laugh I’ll take a chance
I’ll just write a villanelle
Though it may not cast young Dylan’s spell
around his father’s fierce-teared glance
I thought, oh what the hell

Though it may not a million copies sell
it may win your love perchance
I’ll just write a villanelle

It may not toll Gray’s churchyard knell
others have failed in that romance
I thought, oh what the hell
I’ll just write a villanelle

Photo by Federica Giusti on Unsplash

A Prairie Villanelle

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Travel / February 9, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

If prairie wheels again had I
I’d chew the gravel and the air
with prairie roads to fly

I’d plume the earth into sky
to show them I was there
if prairie wheels again had I

Past places where dead neighbours lie
I’d not linger, who would dare
with prairie roads to fly

Dust to dust gets in your eye
I’d look for other things to share
if prairie wheels again had I

Then greener farmyards I’d pass by
in mem-mirages free of care
with prairie roads to fly

I’d roll past all that makes you cry
afloat in sunsets clear and fair
if prairie wheels again had I
with prairie roads to fly

Mardi Gras

Haiku / tagged Faith, Fun / February 8, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Mardi gras is near
say colored rosaries
joy is holy too

St. Elsewhere

Relationships, Travel / February 7, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It starts
when they bring the wrong baby home
the other, which is me, where is he
also roaming the world to see

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Sandi Hebley on How Fallen AngelsAugust 17, 2025
Indeed!
Nancy Fierstien on Unremember ThatAugust 16, 2025
Gonna be inclined to share this one at my Poets' Tea reading tomorrow afternoon. Thanks, Neil!
Sandi Hebley on Memory Lane JoggingAugust 5, 2025
Lovely!
Sandi Hebley on Dad and Death at WarAugust 4, 2025
😢
Sandi Hebley on One for the AuntiesAugust 3, 2025
Wow!

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