Audio Recordings – Page 85 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Audio Recordings

Playing Old 78s at the Nursing Home

Audio Recordings, Family, Nostalgia, Relationships, Remembering / tagged Aging, Alzheimers, Dementia, Forgetting, Memory / August 9, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Aunt Myrtle
skips a groove from time to time

The needle, still diamond sharp
plays 1952 for a round or two

Then the niceness of the people here
Grandpa's bad temper, and the size of the long kitchen at the farm

The sweetness of her husband
sometimes here and sometimes gone
and where is he now?

Reminded that he died some years ago with quick humour still intact, replies
That would explain why he never comes to visit

1 Reply

The Man in the Desert

Audio Recordings, Remembering / tagged Aging, Grief, Memory / August 8, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The man in the desert remembers
and a tear begins to form

A tear so long unleashed
ninety percent of the water is gone

Dragging its chain of crusted drops
it carves a white canyon
down his long and leathered face

A cracked tongue between cracked lips
reaches to taste it - Oh so sweet

Photo by Robert Murray on Unsplash

1 Reply

On the Pali with Jane

Audio Recordings, Remembering, Travel / August 7, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

We had a bottle of Champagne
that we won on the way from LA
for guessing the closest arrival time

We had Big Macs to make it a picnic

The Pali is a very high point on Oahu
the cliff is steep and the winds strong

They tell a story of a suicide jump
where the leaper was caught by the wind
and blown back to the vine-covered cliff
where he thought it over and climbed back up

We were happy for the jumper and happy for us

Memory Lane Jogging

Audio Recordings, Family, Nostalgia, Remembering / August 6, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There are things I remember I forgot
like the music of my father’s swearing
when a heavy hammer had hit his thumb

And like the words that mother said
when she called us all in to go to bed

There are others another layer down
that digging alone I would never f ind
that someone else has to bring to mind

So I listen to stories by family and friend
till strings pop up to pull with a knot at the end

1 Reply

Little School on the Prairie

Audio Recordings / tagged Bilingualism, Education, Mistakes, School, Small Town / August 5, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Rural Saskatchewan's
attempts at bilingualism
were not always a success

School monument with misspelled ÉCOLE (the French word for school)

1 Reply

Where News is News

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, News, Ranch Life / tagged NASA, Small Town, Space Travel / August 4, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

On April 16th 1972
Apollo 16 blasted off
for a landing on the moon

While on a farm
just outside Coderre Saskatchewan
a two headed calf was being born

For 50 miles
in all directions
one was bigger news than the other

Small Town Grief

Audio Recordings, News / tagged Childhood, Grief, Pespective / August 3, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When a boy in our school died
from a word we could say but not spell
It was the only death to count

There was no TV to diminish by compare
and spread our grief so thin
it would not cover him

1 Reply

The Elevator

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Crops, Grain, Prairie Life / August 1, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Seed filled erection
proud on the prairie
when the west was young

Picture by Ron Dormer. Available for viewing and purchase in the restaurant at Temple Gardens Hotel & Spa in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

1 Reply

Lea

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged jokes, memories, Small Town / July 31, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When you walked west from your home
down the main street to the heart of Coderre
a car driving in from the country
could slip up silently behind you

A quick blast of the horn
and your knees would collapse
and you’d drop like a stone

Good sport in a small town

If you were walking down that street today
and I was driving behind
I would be sorely tempted to do it again
but this time I would want to catch you

Setting a Good Example

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Adversity, Crops, Faith, Waiting / July 30, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The farmer prays for rain
and goes right back to work

He seeds the seeds
and he weeds the weeds
and oats his horse if he has one

But as summer goes by he may scan the sky
with the boils and the patience of Job
and mutter, as Job might have muttered
while trying to set a good example for God

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Anonymous on CirclesJanuary 18, 2026
Both Gloria and I were touched by your poem. Congrats. Tom and Gloria
LeoraLawrence Porter on Sacred DanceJanuary 18, 2026
Thank you, from an unknowing dancing healer! as for my liking… While I greatly, greatly appreciate your clarity of voice…
barbara joy on MessagesJanuary 16, 2026
profound
Eda Lishman on For the PoetryJanuary 7, 2026
Neil: what a daily gentlre reminder ...this broight me many memories of walking out into the open prairie searching for…
NEIL MEILI on Grocery Shopping in AustinDecember 13, 2025
Thanks Pamela, Love to see some of your haiku and you and Pamela in the new year. All blessings, Neil…

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