Audio Recordings – Page 203 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Audio Recordings

I Never Saw My Mother on Horseback

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / August 14, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I understand that
she used to ride to school
but she was little and it was a farm
and somehow that didn’t seem to count

When she was about 75 she told me
about going with Dad
to the far end of the ranch
on a beautiful day a long time ago
to help round up some strays

She said that she liked it a lot
and couldn’t remember why
she didn’t do it more

Too Crowded

Audio Recordings, Cowboy Poetry, Ranch Life, Travel / August 13, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My folks took some time off in the sixties
from their Saskatchewan ranching and
traveled down through South Texas

One day they stopped to talk to an
old cowboy sittin and a wittlin
on a rickety ranch porch

When he found out where they were from he said
“Say – do you know a man up there
by the name of Bill Prior?”

They said “Yes, he’s an old bachelor who lives up
past our north pasture, why do you ask?”

“Well” he said, “about 1928 Bill and I are out
lookin for some strays when we see another rider
coming over the furthest hill”

Bill said to me, “It’s gettin too damn crowded
down here, I’m heading for Canada”

“He turned his horse North and I haven’t
seen him since”

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One for the Cat

Audio Recordings / tagged Aging, Cats / August 8, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

One for the memory of a dear old furry friend to celebrate International Cat Day

Buffy at fourteen
down to only two speeds
catnap and catnip

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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

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

Never More Beautiful

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Cancer, Death, Friendship / July 28, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Visited last year and again last month
with old friend Lee in Tennessee

Ten years and more of cancer
and that Chattannooga choo choo
may be pulling out soon

The skin more and more transparent
the soul more and more shining through

I expect by the next time we drop in
a floating glimpse of Alice’s cat
with a Mona Lisa grin

Roundup

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Cowboy / July 27, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It’s about the hardest dustiest best work a man can get

The pride of the heeling rope, thrown snake quick from a
good horse and the slow steady pull, dragging the white face
out where the boys with the hot irons can record the feat

Three hundred cows sing of calves lost and found, and above
and through it all the full strong laugh of one of the boys
where a slip was made or a kick well placed

At the end of the day, you wrap a rope sore hand around a
spring cold beer, and lean back against the old pole fence
deep in the pain, and the sweat, and the moment

Completely released from the wheel of desire
There’s no place you’d rather be
There’s no one you’d rather be with
and you’re too damn tired to move anyway

Ursa Erectus

Audio Recordings, Nature, Travel / tagged Bears / July 26, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Just outside the park
bear black as east slope coal
stands cub curious as we

The bright blue car goes by
he blinks an eye phone pic

Tells friends
“You had to be there”

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

Leaving Town

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Travel / July 24, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

With the last house at your back
and the last dog in the last yard
tired of barking

Still standing and still staring
at a line posing as horizon

The warmth and wounds of love
drying in the wind

Knowing that the world
is indeed flat
that you are only one
step from the edge
and that you will
fall off

Marilyn in the Mountains

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Travel / tagged Marilyn Monroe / July 21, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Sixty years after
the release of the film
returning again to
The River of No Return

Stepping again in a river
that you can’t step in twice
sleeping again in a cabin
by the cabin where you slept

Listening again to the rapids
that run over the same rocks
and still chew at the roots
of the same bent tree

Listening for the whispers
of the words
you went away without saying
the words
we are all still waiting to hear

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Anonymous on Rule BritannicaNovember 6, 2026
Amen to that.
Sandi Hebley on Ready for WinterOctober 26, 2026
😁😁
NEIL MEILI on Laughing With the DeadOctober 25, 2026
Thanks for the story Sandi, And bet he is and that I would have liked him Neil
Sandi Hebley on Okay Now – MostlyOctober 22, 2026
🤗
Sandi Hebley on Laughing With the DeadOctober 21, 2026
One of my fondest memories is that the last full sentence my dad spoke was to tell a visitor a…

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