Ranch Life – Page 22 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Ranch Life

Old Injuries

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth, Ranch Life / November 25, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Living with
what didn't kill you outright

Sayings like
it makes you stronger

little comfort in the morning

Going Pro

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Practice / November 24, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

At thirteen I was a rodeo pro
cause I was getting paid to ride

A farmer south of Mossbank
had a two-year-old he wanted rode
and I would ride three hours a week

Didn’t want a saddle on one so young
so the mare and I would play a game

She would run fast and stop faster
and I would end up on the ground
and get up and on and do it again

Since I am getting paid
by the hour not seconds staying on
she gets to have her horse-laugh fun
while I polish life-skills of tuck and roll

Thrown

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life, Relationships / November 23, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

You know that old expression

You threw me when you said that

Well, you threw me when you said that

I was on a quarter horse once
turning a barrel like only a quarter horse can
when the cinch broke

Cetrifugally flung, I hun
a long moment speeding lateral in the air
before I remembered
how to roll up and hit the ground
without being hurt too bad

You really threw me when you said that
I didn't have time to remember to roll

For Mary Who Loves Horses

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged Boundries / November 22, 2022 / 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

Horses are Dangerous Critters

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / tagged Death, Horses, Luck / November 21, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Make no mistake
every ride you are taking
reins and your life in your hands

Who can forget Bonnie Blue Butler
breaking hearts of Scarlett and Rhett
Christopher Reeve thrown like kryptonite
or Maxentius thrown and drowned in the Tiber

And the time Pinto Pete
steps in a prairie badger hole
while running full speed down the hill
and ass over teakettle does a full forward flip
ending up standing, me beside him reins in hand

Sometimes you live to write the poem
sometimes someone else will have to do it for you

1 Reply

Herding Poems

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / November 19, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Herding Poems
(for Patricia)

My father had sons
to help him herd the cows

I have a daughter
to help me herd the poems

He had ten thousand acres
we have all the acres of the world

His won ribbons at the feeder show
ours, when entered, won some prizes too

He would stand for hours
to watch them feeding and grown fat

I sometimes get out a book and do just that

All They Survey

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Appreciation, Pride / November 18, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My father
would stand for hours
just looking at his cows

Like God leaning
on a rail fence in heaven
pleased with his creation

Too Crowded

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Family, Ranch Life, Travel / tagged Migration / November 6, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My folks took some time off in the sixties from their Saskatchewan ranching and traveled down through South Texas
One day they stopped to talk to an old cowboy sittin and a wittlin on a rickety ranch porch
When he found out where they were from he said "Say - do you know a man up there by the name of Bill Prior?"
They said "Yes - he's an old bachelor who lives up past our north pasture, ,why do you ask?"
"Well" he said, "about 1928 Bill and I are out lookin for some strays when we see another rider coming over the furthest hill"

Bill says to me "It's getting too damn crowded down here, I'm heading for Canada"
"He turned his horse North and I haven't seen him since"

2 Replies

I Never Saw My Mother on Horseback

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life, Remembering / November 5, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I understand that
she used to ride to school
but she was little and it was a farm
and somehow that didn't seem to count

When she was about 75 she told me about going with Dad to the far end of the ranch on a beautiful day a long time ago to help round up some strays

She said that she liked it a lot
and couldn't remember why she didn't do it more

The Question

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships, Remembering / November 3, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There's Dad sitting
by the after branding fire
with some after branding beers

And we get to talking
heart to heart
of trails together and apart

And of the things we saw
which ones brought us awe

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