Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Fear

The Inner Critic

Audio Recordings, Family, Personal Growth / tagged Compassion, Doubt, Fear, Patterns, Shame / June 29, 2025 / 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

The Spread

Audio Recordings / tagged Cost of Living, Fear, Income, Inflation, Struggle, Survival / June 5, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

"Two hours of pushing broom buys and eight-by-twelve four-bit room" - Roger Miller "King of the Road"

Have you noticed since
whenever it was you started out

That the gap between having nothing and enough
to eat and a safe place to sleep
has been steadily growing year by year

And even them that covered the spread today
aren't sure how long it's going to stay that way

or build fences high enough to keep that fear away

“King of the Road” by Roger Miller

Harmed and Dangerous

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Abuse, Anger, Fear, Pain / April 7, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

That hate didn't come from nowhere
somebody got bullied or beaten
or prejudice in their pablum

Compassion and caution
are called for
and there are badgers everywhere

All the Rage

Audio Recordings, News / tagged Anger, Fear, Politics, Uncertainty / April 6, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Everyone in the USA
is wearing static this year

Some seers can see it
everyone can feel it

It comes in two colors
hate and fear
and as many shades
as undergarments worn

Only by touch can it be shorn

Shitstorm

Audio Recordings, News / tagged Fear, Politics, Uncertainty / April 4, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When news fake
and real reels round you

When the Gee forces and
the Whiz forces forniculate
and the sky is red with barn boards

Time may be ripe to run
from storm sellers to storm cellars
in the safement underground
with your loved ones gathered round

1 Reply

Look What’s Growing Again

Audio Recordings, News, Personal Growth / tagged Bigotry, Fear, Hatred, Intolerance, Misogeny, Prejudice, racism, Trump, Xenophobia / March 11, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

If the soil is right
2000 year old seeds can sprout and grow

A well-pigmented poet friend
who spent her young years in DC
returned the first time Trump was in
and saw lynch in every policeman's eye

In all of us may lie all seeds
and some of them are weeds

Maybe that
is why we have hoes

Through Chicken Wire Darkly

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Faith, Fear, Hope, Literature, War, Xenophobia / February 17, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The bounding beauty of foxes
if mostly lost on the housers of hens

A race any race
has a beauty in its face
seldom seen through crosshairs
or the fear of being seen through them

Kits and kittens give some hope
and reading the love bits of holy books
and the poetry of poets not named Poe

Prairie Trumpet

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life / tagged Fear, Threats, Trump / January 23, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Bull pawing the ground
doesn't mean he'll charge for sure
best run anyway

You Think Therefore I Am

Audio Recordings / tagged Attention, Fear, Insecurity, Social Media, Trump / January 9, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

William Stafford's mother
spoke of some people in town as
"So boring you get tired of them
even when they're not around"

Is it fear that that is us
that wakes us all a-sweat at two a.m.
to send out all cap tweets
hoping their echoes will make us real

New Years Fears

Audio Recordings / tagged Despair, Fear, Hope, Politics / January 1, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Never mind that old fight
of darkness against light
now darkness
doth with darkness fight

Power seized and power bought
and only for oneself each thought

But is all this but seems and seems
and may be trumped by children's dreams

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Christie flaman on Light Shining on CopperJuly 12, 2025
Thank you for reading me my favorite poem of all time ,anywhere. Nothing describes the loss of someone you love…
Nancy Fierstien on Hard to Get War Poems to RhymeJune 3, 2025
Thanks for sharing this one, my friend. It packs a good punch, line after line. I'll be glad to give…
Christie flaman on Going ProMay 17, 2025
Old cowboy saying: Never a horse that couldn’t be rode, never a cowboy that couldn’t be thrown Thank you for…
Ken Christopher on Going ProMay 16, 2025
That’s pretty funny, and fun to read
Nancy Fierstien on Spring Came InMay 12, 2025
You've certainly captured these crazy times with finesse and grace, my Friend!

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