Farm – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Farm

Flat

Farm, Ranch Life / August 12, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Saskatchewan ain’t all flat
but the parts that are flat are flat

The only hills in thirty miles
a heat blister on the highway
and a gopher looking for love

2 Replies

Too Much (of a Good Thing)

Farm, Nature, Ranch Life / July 31, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Mid July and it has rained
pretty much every day since May

All along highway 2
wheat and oats and rye
as lodged as a glutton on pie
no longer able to rise from the table
and feed the world

People praying in the drought
maybe shouldn't shout

Roundup

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Cowboy / July 27, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It’s about the hardest dustiest best work a man can get

The pride of the heeling rope, thrown snake quick from a
good horse and the slow steady pull, dragging the white face
out where the boys with the hot irons can record the feat

Three hundred cows sing of calves lost and found, and above
and through it all the full strong laugh of one of the boys
where a slip was made or a kick well placed

At the end of the day, you wrap a rope sore hand around a
spring cold beer, and lean back against the old pole fence
deep in the pain, and the sweat, and the moment

Completely released from the wheel of desire
There’s no place you’d rather be
There’s no one you’d rather be with
and you’re too damn tired to move anyway

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

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

April 4 a.m.

Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / April 27, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Spring rain
on my father’s grave
The urge to get up
and into the fields again

Cowboy Poetry

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Farm, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / April 6, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

This is not the poetry of pulling calves
in a cold wind and a foot or so of spring snow
with only a vest and a bottle of rye
to keep you dry

This
is the poetry
of that calf that would have died
standing on shaky legs
to drink warm milk
from the cow that would have died

Swearing Off

Audio Recordings, Cowboy Poetry, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / April 4, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The 2019 Austin International Poetry Festival starts today! A warm welcome to all the incoming presenters and participants. This year Cowboy Poetry is making its debut at the festival with workshops by John Legacy and Steve Brooks on Saturday April 6th at the Learning Center at the Holiday Inn Midtown in Austin. Check www.AIPF.org for details.

The story was told by my old friend Bill
about a time when he was four
well maybe a little less, maybe a little more

Seems he’d been rubbin’ up against some boys in town
and learned some language that made his momma frown
His folks tried about everything from soap on down
but the lessons they were pouring in just didn’t stay down

Finally they said, now Billy my boy
the decision we’re makin’ gives us no joy
Because generally we like you, and you’re pretty good with your chores
but there’s no room on this ranch for language like yours

So, though it’s sure to make us grieve
we’ve packed your bag, and you’ll have to leave
They peeked through the curtains as he walked down the lane
with Dad remindin’ Mom that some lessons have pain

Billy stood at the road for 20 minutes or more
then slowly trudged back and knocked on the door
They slipped from the window and opened it slow
he said

“where in the hell am I supposed to go?”

2 Replies

How I Lost My Faith – In Preachers

Farm, Ranch Life, Travel / March 24, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

t was a cold and muddy Sunday
Our little caravan of Christians
children, parents and student minister
stuck in the spring mud a mile from church

Me and city cousin Wayne
the chosen ones at age seven
chosen to walk
to the nearest neighbour
while the others wait in the cars

The neighbor’s not home
but his Cockshutt 40 tractor is

Some combination of farm boy bravado
and reluctance to slog
back to the cars in defeat
comes out as "I can drive a tractor!"

One foot each on the clutch
and a good deal of grinding
gets us into low gear
and off at about two miles per

The student minister meets us
two thirds of the way back

As our leader
in all things spiritual and practical
he decrees that we are going
far too slow
and selects another gear
(probably at random, he’s from the city too)

The one he picks is the fastest
known in these parts as “Road Gear”
and we quickly accelerate to thirty

which causes the preacher to panic
(or remember that he forgot his bible)
and leap off

leaving us to wrestle the big red monster
now wildly careening from rut to rut
and rocketing toward the mired cars
and fearful families

Wrenching the wheel to the right
at the last possible moment
we narrowly avoid death and destruction
and stall to a stop in the water-filled ditch
amidst the prayers of the congregation

2 Replies

The Crocus

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nature, Ranch Life / March 23, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Loud crows and bright robins
promise an early spring

But they are of the sky
and can be easily fooled

Only the crocus
knows

1 Reply

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