Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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How The Ear and the Eye

Nature, Relationships / August 7, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

How the ear and the eye
both sender and receiver be

How like the sun
you warm all that you softly see

And do not think
dear hammer anvil ear
that little drum plays but for thee

CRYSTAL PALACE

Relationships / August 6, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

People are glass houses and should not throw stones

Inner Critic on Holiday

Travel / August 5, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

You will get lost in Paris
it is not your fault, it was planned that way

You may find it unforgivably gauche
not to know the left bank from the right

Let it go

It is not necessary to criticize oneself here
they have waiters for that purpose

And looking out, not in
you may stumble Americanly
upon Marie’s little side street shop
with bread as new as the cheese is old
and a three dollar wine to bridge them

or catch a brief glimpse of that seriously happy young man
pedaling down the very center of the Champs d’Elysee
one foot and a base fiddle resting on his skateboard

Inner Critic at the Beach

Uncategorized / August 4, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Sand, sand, sand
and perfect bodies tanned

And the same sand-paper line
not mine, not mine, not mine

The Inner Critic

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth, Relationships / tagged Psychology / August 3, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Poor little Keystone Cop
(although often not so funny)
leaping from shoulder to shoulder
trying so hard to keep us safe
Yelling or whispering in each ear
the old rules based on fear

Telling us
what we should have done
and what we should never do
enforcing rules learned long ago
that may no longer be true

The voice of your mother still
nags when your room’s not neat
The voice of your father
still wants you up at dawn
Your teacher and your coach
Your country and your culture
Your parents and your younger selves
with messages to keep you safe

The cop only knows
what he used to know
and still does what he was told to do
You don’t have to destroy him
or shove him out the door

Just put your arm around him
and tell him
you’re no longer four

Rain on the Plain

Ranch Life / tagged Bar, Beer, Small Town / August 2, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Outside the bar
the pickup trucks
get their first bath
since May

Inside
the owner tills his crop
and serves another round

Coderre Bar

Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Saskatchewan, Small Town / August 1, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When Uncle Werner used to own this bar
I never saw a fight

Which doesn’t mean that men weren’t men
and alpha games in play
shuffleboard skills, who could hold most beer
and arm wrestling for the top macho tier

I, 400 tons of bales a year strong, taking on
the big guy from the city, outweighed by 100 pounds

His lean lifts me clear off the chair
where I hold onto the underside of the table
with my thighs and knees, and smile and wait
till his fades, and falls with his knuckles

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

Dad and Roy

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged Friendship / July 30, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Dad and Roy were the best of friends
they drank and fought and played
and laughed like nobody laughed
for fifty years and more

Dad had a room in the nursing home
way down at the end of the hall
When Roy was admitted as well
a nurse wheeled him down that hall

They sat footrest to footrest a minute
then Roy said “So it’s come to this”
and they both had a hell of a laugh
Dad died in late December
Roy lasted three months more
They are buried twenty feet apart
in the prairie town where they played

I can see them there now
sitting on their shiny new stones
having a smoke and a chew
and a good pull on a forty of rye

Roy says “So it’s come to this”
and they both have a hell of a laugh

1 Reply

Mood Descending a Staircase

Relationships / July 29, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

What do I do
if daring to share
I bring you down too

2 Replies

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