October 2022 – Page 3 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Monthly Archives: October 2022

The Turkey Shoot

Audio Recordings / tagged Learning, Prairie Life / October 9, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Small town Saskatchewan
raising money for the curling rink

Targets fifty feet away
and old bent-sight 22's to shoot

The trick to bringing a turkey home
was not how well at the bullseye shot
but how fast you learned that life
is sometimes

three inches down

and two to the left of where you aim

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Growing Into It

Audio Recordings, Family, Personal Growth, Relationships / October 8, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Remember all those hand-me-ups
all at least two sizes too big
mother bought for you

You look like a clown but don't dare frown
it's frugal and wise so don't roll your eyes

"Be careful, be careful please"
but you're all elbows and knees

Before they half fit they all look like shit
so it's back to the store to try it once more
and your behind is behind two sizes again

Childhood patterns are hard to break

Growing out of school, marriage, and every job I've ever had before I really got it
before I was even big enough to fit

Storm Windows on the Prairie

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Autumn, Fall / October 7, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Memories that Stick

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / October 6, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Memories that Stick # 8 Flypaper in the Kitchen

Farms have flies
and choose who dies
and children learn it young

Ancient kings
put heads on pikes
to warn of upstarts fate

but didn't have to listen to
the buzzing while they ate

A Funny Story

Audio Recordings, Family, Remembering / tagged Childhood, Humor / October 5, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In the dream I say to brother Wally

You’re going to have to tell the story
or the milk I drank way back then
is going to come out my nose again

Lifebuoy

Audio Recordings, Family, Nostalgia / October 4, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I never have learned to swear very well
which just goes to show that training will tell

That there is much to be said for good homes
and payoffs for stern discipline and hope

It's not that I don't know the words
but they all still taste like soap

Buffalo Chips

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Manure, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Childhood, Play / October 3, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Lily pads floating
on the sea of prairie grass

Heat for the tepees
or the homesteader's cabin

Nothing wasted in the West

And every boy knew
that a good sharp stick or a pointy-toed shoe
would let you know
if one was just right, or still a little too new

And I'm here to tell you, that compared to a good dry chip
meeting a West wind's invitation
a Frisbee is a weak and poor, plastic imitation

Conversations with Horses

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Horses / October 2, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I never had a horse that talked to me
like Mr. Ed on sixties TV

If I had I might have learned a lot

I did talk to them of course
but mostly by knee and rein and spur
and sometimes thank you for a job well done

As for messages to me, I can only imagine
- or count the number of times bucked off

Smells of the Corrals

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Manure, Ranch Life / tagged Horses / October 1, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Horses don’t smell like cows
except when your nose is full
of acrid smoke at branding time

Disinfectant
from the pail for sloshing on the bag
after their prairie oysters are shucked
and later them oysters on the open fire

Burning
from the wire-saw freeing the ingrown horn

Dung flung
and dung hung on boots and belt and butt
from the calf that beat you at ‘who throws who’

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Nancy Fierstien on Light on LeavesNovember 2, 2025
Yet another favorite of mine! How can I hold back this "THANK YOU!" ???
Sandi Hebley on How Fallen AngelsAugust 17, 2025
Indeed!
Nancy Fierstien on Unremember ThatAugust 16, 2025
Gonna be inclined to share this one at my Poets' Tea reading tomorrow afternoon. Thanks, Neil!
Sandi Hebley on Memory Lane JoggingAugust 5, 2025
Lovely!
Sandi Hebley on Dad and Death at WarAugust 4, 2025
😢

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