Author Archives: neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

NEW TRIBES

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , , , , , , , , , / / by

NEW TRIBES

From the old tribe of Isaac
and the old tribe of Ishmael

Israeli and Palestinian
couples and their children
come together by the sea and share

We are teaching the skills of listening
the skills of sharing and skills of hearing

The rules are simple
tell your truth as your truth only

Assume as you listen
that the person makes sense
If they do not seem to make sense
assume you need more information,

By the end of the weekend
the eight year olds are sleeping over
teenagers walk on the beach till dawn

A new tribe being formed

SACRED DANCE

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth / tagged , , , , / / by

SACRED DANCE

The Bushmen of the Kalahari
dance all night in a circle
dance a calf-deep trench in the sand

In a circle around the circle
sit those in need of a healing

And because it is a sacred dance
any dancer at any time may step
out of the dance and do the healing
and then return to the dance again

Knowing without knowing
that everyone is a healer sometimes
everyone needs a healing sometimes

You just keep dancing

LOST AT SEA

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LOST AT SEA

Uncles, aunts, old friends and more
all sinking below the metaphor
on the way to that distant shore

The keel hauling of cancer
Walking Gehrig’s plank with ALS

Hanging from the yardarm
of emphysema’s choking rope

The lightning stroke of stroke

The sudden iceberg of heart attack

The slow arctic crush of hoary old age

Or slowly sailing, deeper and deeper
into Alzheimers’ fog bound banks

There are a thousand ways
to get back to the launching line
I’m not sure I’m ready yet
to speculate on mine

THE INNER CRITIC

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth / tagged , , / / by

THE INNER CRITIC

Poor little Keystone Cop
(although often not so funny)
Leaping from shoulder to shoulder
trying so hard to keep us safe
yelling or whispering in each ear
the old rules based on fear

Telling us what we should have done
and what we should never do
Enforcing rules learned long ago
that may no longer be true

The voice of your mother, still
nags when your room’s not neat
The voice of your father
still wants you up at dawn

Your teacher and your coach
Your country and your culture
Your parents and your younger selves
with messages to keep you safe

The cop only knows what he used to know
and still does what he was told to do
You don’t have to destroy him
or shove him out the door

Just put your arm around him
and tell him you’re no longer four

RED STICK WEDDING – BATON ROUGE

Audio Recordings, Nature / tagged , , / / by

RED STICK WEDDING – BATON ROUGE

When you get married at the Alligator Bayou
in the middle of a Louisiana swamp
it is well to expect some magic

When you get married on the anniversary
of Granny Jean’s death in her 100th year
you can pretty much expect she’ll be here

The sky cracking open with lightening
just as the preacher starts preaching
and the thunder and rain and hail
rattlering off the big tin roof
all through poem and ceremony
might have happened anywhere

But when the wedding vows slow
that rain to a stop, so we can go out
on the flat bottomed boat at dusk
come around the corner and see

Two cypress stumps fifty paces apart
struck by the wedding party lightning
burning like twin candles and flickering
firefly sparks against the night
we know we’re not in Kansas

BREATHING IN WINTER

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BREATHING IN WINTER

In Saskatchewan in winter
your breath is certainly plain to see

And while I don’t actually believe the story
that you can warm it in a frying pan
and hear all the words again

I can’t help thinking how nice it would be
if I could just inhale really, really hard

And get back that awful dumb thing
I said to you this morning