January 2024 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Monthly Archives: January 2024

The Death of a Thousand Cups

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death / January 31, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Some die by inches, some by ounces

Little by little he sank below the surface
each meeting less and less of him there
- a discussion without a quorum

It's been a few months now
and he hasn't appeared in dreams
or haunting our old haunts

It was so long
since he knew he was alive
he may not yet know that he is dead

North of the Medicine Line

Audio Recordings / tagged Addiction, Alcohol, Colonialism, History, Pioneers, Settlers / January 30, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Given the theory
with some evidence
that the natives of this land
had about the same tolerance
for alcohol as they had for smallpox
and because someone “knew better”
they were not allowed to buy it

If your hubby showed a weakness for drink
and a strong tendency to spend
the grocery money on the demon rum

You’d just go to the proper authorities
have him added to the Indian list
and barred from every bar

The Medicine Line refers to the 49th parallel and Fort Whoop-Up (pictured above) was a notorious trading post in the late 1800s.

Deer Gone

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life / tagged Alcohol, Death, Disconnection, Extinction, First Nations, Gratitude, Guns, Hunting, Ignorance / January 29, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A tough shot, 600 yards at least, running
left to right in the open sights of the 303
Aim to the top of the third jump ahead, move
the gun in a smooth arc and squeeze slow

It was a kill
I saw it as great skill
a source of blood-fed pride
and the deer… well it just died

The first nations used to see it as a kind of
revolving door, the spirit of the animal would
come back soon enough in another body if you used
the one he had given up to you with gratitude

There are not many deer in these parts anymore
Wonder if they’re trapped waiting for gratitude
the natives lost in Fort Whoop-Up whiskey

and we never knew

Pickled

Audio Recordings / tagged Alcohol, Hunting, No Return / January 27, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Those who talk about
when alcohol becomes an ism
sometimes use the example
of a cucumber immersed in brine

Of how it is a cucumber until it becomes a pickle
and can never go back to being a cucumber again

Could be the same with hunting things

How many geese do you have to shoot
before what was a Vee of beauty passing overhead
turns to calculating the range of a 12 gauge to bring them down

Moisture is Moisture

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nature, Ranch Life / tagged Rain, Snow, Wisdom / January 26, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Moisture is moisture
is the mantra of the dryland farmer

It doesn't matter if it's snow or rain
or if a foot of one
equals about an inch of the other

He is happy enough to sit
by the window and watch it fall

And any kid that complains
they can't go outside and play
will be quick-slapped by the adage

40 Below is 40 Below

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Environment, Farm, Ranch Life, Travel / tagged Climate Change, Connection, Stories, Temperature, Winter / January 25, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Global warming comes in fits and starts
The thermometer
still bangs away at the bottom sometimes

But everything is mostly easier these days
The Americans
have the taken the U out of fourty
and I take the I out whenever I can

Go down to Texas where
if bullshit was white they’d be able to ski
and tell tall tales of my youth that are truth

Of breaking ice for cattle at 50 below
of shaving a beard too early one year
and beard-shaped frozen blisters rising

They listen and smile
and welcome me in like some long lost kin

40º below zero is where the Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales meet.

1 Reply

How to Write a Buddy Movie

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Adventures, camaraderie, Film, Friendship, Movies / January 22, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There will have to be a bonding bit
Bullets buzzing by in war
A bad game beating and cold beer after

Working together at the end of strength
at something that can't be done by one
and doing it as one

Servants and sidekicks don't count
sweet and brave and wise though they be

In ancient graves the hero may be buried with horses, wives and armour, but no buddy

Everyone in the audience
should know that Butch and Sundance
or Thelma and Louise are the way this has to end

Unless you chicken them off the hook
so they can go home - thankful and disappointed

Eyes of Friends

Audio Recordings, Relationships / January 21, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

While out pursuing life's dim ends
we often meet the eyes of friends

It's great to feel that magnet's pull
the hearts becoming warm and full

There may be time to stop and stare
and many years of love and care

Or maybe silent and by chance
just a brief brief moment's glance

It doesn't really matter much
the contact's made we feel the touch

Though if we as of how's and why's
and what't the magic of those eyes

They do what mirrors can't quite do
they let you see right through to you

1 Reply

Hermits Notwithstanding

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Connection, Heartbreak / January 20, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Hermits notwithstanding
we are linkage craving critters

No matter how burned our tentacle tips
we cool them a while and reach out again

Clay print entitled “Play” by Marion Nicoll

2 Replies

Hermit Envy

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Loneliness, Separation, Solitude / January 19, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The thing about being alone
is finding someone to lie to
about how good it feels

1 Reply

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Nancy Fierstien on Eyes of FriendsNovember 6, 2025
Lovin' this one, line after line!
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!

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