Travel – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Travel

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

How I Lost My Faith – In Preachers

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life, Travel / tagged Cowardice, Humor / March 3, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It 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 neighbor
while the others wait in the cars

The neighbour'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 riding gets us into low gear
and off at about 2 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 the 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
at the last possible moment
we narrowly avoid death and destruction
and stall to stop in the water-filled ditch
amidst the prayers of the congregation

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In Vegas

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Gambling / February 9, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

(which aint' Saskatchewan)

In Vegas
you can still double your money
by folding it over
and putting it back in your pocket

In Vegas
you can cheer the winners on
and enjoy the art the losers paid for

In Vegas
there is golf and glitter
and you can walk outside all winter

Las Vegas Mile

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Casino, Gambling, Slot Machines / February 7, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Check-in desk
to guest room elevator
through the fire swamp of
blinking eyes of unusual size
luggage axle-deep in quicksand carpet

A gift shop to the left
filled with booze and bling
and hopefully some red slippers
so we can click our way back to Kansas

Sleeveless in Seattle

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Coffee, Rain, Weather / February 6, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Some years Seattle
gets more rain than London

and yet
its citizens are often seen
umbrellaless on the boulevards

with nothing but caffeine
between them and the elements

Rude Arrivals

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Contrast / February 5, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Returning
from Hawaii at thirty below
is a slap in the face for desertion

Stepping
off a plane in Phoenix in July
is the nuns being right for the price of sin

Glider

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Cars, Freedom, Happiness, Joy / February 4, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My heart soars like a hawk
- Chief Dan George

One of those days
(and I wish you many)
with the wind at your back
matching the speed of your car
and the top down or sun-roof open

And you a brother
to every soaring bird in the sky
untethered and feathered and at peace

Tourists Lost and Found

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Travel / tagged Connection, Experience / January 25, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

To go to a church
and not say a prayer
offends the makers of candles

Any anywhere and every everywhere
has a wish to bless and be blessed

If there are waters swim in them
if there are parties sing at them
if a funeral, cross yourself as it passes

The taking of pictures and giving of
money are top of the skin exchanges

All the world is lonely as you
what you do for it, it will do for you

Living on an Island Many Called a Farm

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life, Travel / tagged Isolation, Story / December 24, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Sometimes a sailor from abroad
would cross the wide sea of sod

Telling to the adults tales
of cities, mountains and war

Though I had doubts at two
if any part of it was true

Grace in Austin

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Africa, Elegance, Poise / December 7, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Young slim and beautiful
she crosses 6th street
where no crosswalk is
into a darkened doorway

No one moves like that
who has not in her life or genes
carried a basket across the savannah
filled with eggs without a crack
or water without a wave

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Eda Lishman on How I Lost My Faith – In PreachersMarch 3, 2026
An epic moment for seven year olds! Wow how many lessons can you have in one incident? And a few…
Nancy Fierstien on A Tear for the RichFebruary 23, 2026
Another gem worth it's weight in gold from you, Neil Meili!
Sandi Hebley on Lonely LightFebruary 12, 2026
How sweet!
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…

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