Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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A Neil a Day Poems

Introverts and Extroverts

Audio Recordings / tagged Contribution, Crowds, Solitude / December 31, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Those who
fill their buckets at private springs

Are not
less welcome in the thirsty garden
Than those who gather in crowds at the village pump

Concussion Report

Audio Recordings, Haiku / tagged Beginnings, Change, Creation, Universe / December 30, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Concussion Report
Big bang a whack to the head
Sky still seeing stars

Looking Ahead

Audio Recordings / tagged Cautionary, Doubt, mythology / December 29, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Lot's wife looked back
and was turned into
a tower of salt-lick
for camels and goats

Orpheus looked back
to see if Eurydice
was three paces behind
as one's woman should be
and hied her back to Hades

Some cautionary tales
which don't say if mirrors count

South Texas Sunday Morning

Audio Recordings / tagged Communion, Faith, Flavor, Mexican Food, Religion, Tradition / December 28, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

You rise from your knees
taste of tasteless wafer on your tongue

And hurry off to Matt's El Rancho
to scoop fiery salsa with chips of corn

God and the devil must have their due

Church Windows

Audio Recordings / tagged Fear, Work / December 27, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Someone, I think it was Rilke, said
Religion is like a window
you can see God through it
but it keeps you from touching him

Summer job at sixteen
removing for re-leading
panels of old stained glass
from Moose Jaw's St. Andrews church

Rickety extension ladder
up to a plank between the parapets
another ladder barely on it
and a long drop to the stone steps

Hands trembling, knees shaking
glad I was on the God side of the glass

Morning After Christmas Morning

Audio Recordings / tagged Christmas, Sleep / December 26, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Babes
in beds and mangers dreaming
while someone cleans the stable
and wrapping paper from the floor

Let them sleep their innocent sleep
they'll rise
soon enough with promises to keep

Prairie Boy’s Christmas

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Belief, Christmas, Faith / December 25, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

He has trouble imagining Magi
and the deserts they had to cross

But the warmth
of the stable is in his bones
and can easily relate to the babe

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

A Stoneboat Story

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / December 23, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Rough planks across two wood-beam runners
low and tough enough to tip a heavy rock on
or haul the cleanings of the stalls in winter

Learning to stand in loose-kneed balance
full speed behind fast homing horse
across the frozen tracks and turds
on the way back to the barn

Later off Oahu Buff teaching me to surf
I think "Just like this"
until the big wave comes and says "Not quite"

The Joy of Movement

Audio Recordings / tagged Physicality, sensuality / December 22, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Putting aside for the moment
The giving and getting of midnight joy
a body in motion is a thing of beauty

There is the throwing and catching
of any ball or stick or baton or lariat
the leaping over and the crawling under
The lifting of a baby, the holding of a hand
the flow of skating on ice or skiing on snow
The strength of lift and the subtlety of touch
which brings us back around to midnight

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