Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Rule Britannica

Nostalgia, Remembering / July 23, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Mostly musty now
Google-buried deep in library stacks
and garage sale ‘take it for a dollar’ boxes

Generations denied the pleasure
of sitting with a volume
rich and heavy to the hand

And knowing you could know
everything there was to know
about whatever started with an M
through whatever started with an O

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

Breakfast at the Chateau Lake Louise

Nature, Travel / tagged Rocky Mountains / July 22, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The sun strikes early
on Mount Victoria
waking diamonds
in the old monarch’s crown
washing softly
down her ermine covered shoulders

While surrounding peaks
in playful disrespect
throw hand puppets
of bears and wolves
across her lower skirts

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

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

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

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

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

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Anonymous on Rule BritannicaNovember 6, 2026
Amen to that.
Sandi Hebley on Ready for WinterOctober 26, 2026
😁😁
NEIL MEILI on Laughing With the DeadOctober 25, 2026
Thanks for the story Sandi, And bet he is and that I would have liked him Neil
Sandi Hebley on Okay Now – MostlyOctober 22, 2026
🤗
Sandi Hebley on Laughing With the DeadOctober 21, 2026
One of my fondest memories is that the last full sentence my dad spoke was to tell a visitor a…

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