Poems about Poetry – Page 11 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

Skip to content

Home
Contact
Neil’s Books
Poems
Kind Words
A Neil a Day Poems

Category: Poems about Poetry

Sitting at the Feet of Maya Angelou

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / June 30, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Gandhi is gone

Guatama is gone

Jesus and Mohammed to long ground
into true believers' meat
I wouldn't know them on the street

And Socrates and Plato would speak Greek

But, right here and right now
so close we almost touch

I bask and revel
in purest presence
and direct transmission
from this poetic patron saint

Will my life and poems change?

This is a woman
who for years did not speak
because her worlds could kill a man
and now speaks words that can save him

Will my life and poems change?

Poem arising from a Maya Angelou reading in Calgary, Alberta, with the author and his daughter Roberta in the front rows.

Lilac Time

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Personal Growth, Poems about Poetry / tagged Experience, Flowers, Memory, Scent / June 15, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The nostrils of the young
though keen
receive but half a scent

How many years
til it be doubled by memory

As more words than one
are needed to make rhyme

1 Reply

Land Breathing Deep After Rain

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Creativity / April 20, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A line in a dream
that I grab and hold till morning
Let sit for a week and start to write
the last line of a thousand poems

You meet me at the airport
after a long away and a long flight
Land breathing deep after rain

Old college buddies gather for a beer
Land breathing deep after rain

Brothers and sisters at the lake
cousins building in the sand
Land breathing deep after rain

Write yours here

__________________________

__________________________

Land breathing deep after rain

A Prairie Villanelle

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life, Travel / April 19, 2024 / 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 susnsets clear and fair
if prairie wheels again had I
with prairie roads to fly

Elbow Room Rap

Audio Recordings, Environment, Poems about Poetry, Travel / tagged Anxiety, City Life, Claustrophobia, Congestion, Crowds / April 17, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Poems know
where they come from

My poems grew up
in the wide open spaces
soft rolling hills and prairie lakes

You can lay a word down here
in places
that no one would step on
in ten years

My poems mostly come on gentle
and soft and safe like that

But - when my poems
come to the big cities
and the buildings start leanin in
on them (and now fallin in)
and the air gets thick
with cars and people
my poems,
I say my poems, start to panic

They start to talk
in short / hard / words
they flail around in all directions
they want to be rap poems
they want to be jackhammers
they want to be machine guns
they want to be big horns

They want to
aim their decibels
at all those Jericho walls
and they want them down
they want them down
right now

THEY SAY
Gimme some space
get outta my face

THEY SAY
gimme some space
get outta my face

THEY SAY
I need my place
gotta have someplace
I need my space
gotta have some space

THEY SAY
You can’t see me
gotta turn it up

THEY SAY
you can’t hear me
gotta turn it up

MY POEMS SAY

HELP!

1 Reply

Toronto to Detroit by Train

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry, Travel / April 6, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The sheep were soft upon the land
and there was magic in the day
as I sipped my rum and cola
and rhymed couplets all the way

Charlie Golf Xray November Golf

Audio Recordings, Flight, Pilots, Poems about Poetry / March 29, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Cowboy Poetry

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Farm, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / March 22, 2024 / 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

Mona Lisa

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry, Relationships / tagged Art & Artists, Inspiration, Muse / March 12, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I'm so thankful you were there
like a Mona Lisa fair

To show me things I'd never see
and to model for my poetry

Which is not to compare
the artist or the style

But only to confirm again
the value of a smile

The Poetry Reading

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / March 4, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The secret to hauling horses
is to step on the gas fast
hit the brakes hard then the gas again
A few rounds of that
and their feet are far-apart and well-set
You can pretty much
do what you like for the rest of the trip

Post navigation

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Search

Neil’s Latest Book Available in Paperback and Large Print Edition though Amazon worldwide

Social

View zencowboypoet’s profile on Facebook
View @meilineil’s profile on Twitter
View neilmeili’s profile on Instagram

Want More Poetry? Sign Up Here.

Anonymous on CirclesJanuary 18, 2026
Both Gloria and I were touched by your poem. Congrats. Tom and Gloria
LeoraLawrence Porter on Sacred DanceJanuary 18, 2026
Thank you, from an unknowing dancing healer! as for my liking… While I greatly, greatly appreciate your clarity of voice…
barbara joy on MessagesJanuary 16, 2026
profound
Eda Lishman on For the PoetryJanuary 7, 2026
Neil: what a daily gentlre reminder ...this broight me many memories of walking out into the open prairie searching for…
NEIL MEILI on Grocery Shopping in AustinDecember 13, 2025
Thanks Pamela, Love to see some of your haiku and you and Pamela in the new year. All blessings, Neil…

Audio Recordings
Cattle
Cowboy Poetry
Cows
Environment
Family
Farm
Flight
Haiku
Limerick
Manure
Nature
News
Nostalgia
Personal Growth
Pilots
Poems about Poetry
Ranch Life
Relationships
Remembering
String Too Short To Save
Travel
Uncategorized

Tags

Aboriginal Aging Alcohol Art Art & Artists Autumn Beauty Birds Childhood Communication Connection Covid19 Death Dogs Dreams Faith Family Fear First Nations Friendship Gratitude Grief Healing Hope Horses Humor Loss Love Mother Music Nature Perspective Poetry Prairie Psychology Ranch Life Regret Religion sensuality Solitude Spring Voice Dialogue War Winter Wisdom

©2015 Neil Meili. All Right Reserved.

Theme Designed By ThemeVan | Powered by WordPress

Loading Comments...

Write a Comment...

Email

Name

Website