Farm – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Farm

Spring in Moose Jaw

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Aging, Retirement / June 12, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In the city
retired farmers still watch
the weather

In greening front yards
wooden ducks nailed to
white posts

Wings spinning
backwards

A Prairie Villanelle

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life, Relationships, Remembering, Travel / June 11, 2026 / 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 the 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

Roses in My Rear View Mirror

Audio Recordings, Family, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Relationships, Remembering / tagged memories / June 8, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

(and a few bluebonnets too)

There's a family always laughing
There are girls, and they're all smiling

There's a collie dog a roaming
chasing gophers down their holes

There's a ranch with grass all greening
fifteen minutes after rain

Maybe you can go home again

Yippee Ai-Ku

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Haiku, Ranch Life / May 21, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Branding time again
babies torn from their mothers
cowcalfany of sound

Moisture is Moisture

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Farming, Rain, Snow / April 26, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Moisture is moisture
is the mantra of the dryland farmer

It doesn't matter if it's snow or rain
or if a foot of one
about equals an inch of the other

He is happy enough to sit
by the window and watch it fall

And any kid that complains
they can't go outside and play
will be quick-slapped by the adage

In celebration of April blizzards

Black Beauty

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Cats, pets / March 29, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When we moved to Grandfather's old farm
no on had been living there for a while
and all the cats had gone wild

We found a litter of kittens
hidden deep in a corner of the loft
and among them
the most beautiful black and white kitten

Spitting and crouching under the eaves
she scratched all of us to the bone
If I'd been a tree there would
have been six rings

Much persistence we got her out
much time and love and we tamed her
if one every really tames a cat

Best cat ever
adopted by our cousins when we moved
and one of the things we most looked forward to on our visits was Black Beauty and her newest of who knew how many litters

The tomcats in that town were also
excelled judges of beauty

Our Shop Was a Town

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Prepared, Self Sufficint, Work / March 15, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Hardware store
of bins along the wall
with nuts and sores and bolts
well sorted out from large to small

Tools of every kind handy to the hand
and jacks and pry-bars for any lift or pull

Welding shop well set up
with helmet and rod for every job
and blacksmith's anvil and hammers
to bend or straighten as the need decreed

Lumber yard of saws and planes
with nail kegs lined up along the floor
and a good supply of wood of every size

A vet's supply for animal ills
a yellow stretcher for barbed wire
and every kind of skill it took
to keep the farm ranch running
without driving forty miles to Moose Jaw

And All the Ships at Sea

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life, Travel / tagged Home, Journey / March 14, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In Arabia
camels are called
the ships of the desert

On the prairies
what Charles Simic calls
armadas of bed sheets and shirts
tell the sailors they're safely home

The Farm, The Ranch and the Sweeping Scythe

Audio Recordings, Cowboy Poetry, Farm, Nature, Ranch Life / tagged Death / March 13, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Sunrise can be brilly bright
and all day long
everything out to get you

The horse can kick or fall
the bull has horns of steel

Every machine is grinding its teeth
in wait for a chance to bite

and every snowstorm
eager to find you
too far from the barn
and stiffen you like the manure-pile cat

The sunsets worth surviving for

Death May Be Different

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Acceptance, Aging, Death, Dying, Grace, Transition / March 11, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Death may be different
for folks from the city

For farm boys
maybe as simple as
getting on the old bay
hands loose on the reins
knowing it knows the way to the barn

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Sandi Hebley on What the Hell VillanelleJune 10, 2026
Had to go look up “villanelle.” 😏
Sandi Hebley on The AlbumsJune 6, 2026
💕 I love our old albums!
Sandi Hebley on JudyJune 1, 2026
😢 Hugs!
Kimberly Heinrich on The Other WellMay 31, 2026
Neil: THANK YOU for this!! Love it!! You are the best!!!💕💕
Sandi Hebley on Timmy’s Down the WellMay 29, 2026
🤗 Love this!

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String Too Short To Save
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