Nostalgia – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Nostalgia

Don’t Slam The …

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Home / December 4, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A screen door hangs
between screened porch
and indoors in our Austin home

As such it is of little use
in keeping flying pests at bay

but the creaky creak it squeaks
brings back summers on the farm
and woe be to he who does it harm

Reincarnation Milk

Audio Recordings, Family, Nostalgia, Remembering / tagged Connection, Flavor, Food / November 22, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

This only works for one generation
but memories of food can conjure them back

Every lemon meringue
in the world has mother in its color and clouds

Any key lime pie, Longhi's in Lahaina before the fire

All moussaka anywhere is Momma's on Mykonos

And even Carnation milk
which I never liked, brings Dad to the kitchen table

Where Has All the Music Gone

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia / tagged Catholic, Faith, Music, Tradition / October 27, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Latin mass with
the rhythm of a censer swinging

The King James bible
where the psalms were still songs

Would I hesitate at the pearly gate
to confirm that harps were still in tune

Fun in the Kitchen

Audio Recordings, Family, Nostalgia, Poems about Poetry / tagged Feeding, Generosity / October 15, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The joy
I get putting
a poem on your plate

My mother got
three times a day
and fed more by it

Author’s parents in the new ranch kitchen

Trying to Imagine an Imaginary Friend

Audio Recordings, Family, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Childhood, imagination, Play / October 10, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

(for the Marcil Brothers)

Never had one as a kid
which could be attributed to
a lack of imagination or space

I make up it was the latter
every house we had was plenty full of and we did make up stories after dark
and take the parts of local heroes
who drove big trucks and drove them fast

If any of the sibs had a pretend co-pilot
they never let on as they careened
full speed and filled the room with
kicked up gravel on their way to fame

Back-Door-Quick-Steps

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Bathroom, Humor, Latrine, Toilet / October 8, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The outhouse was
a hundred paces from the door
twice as long in winter

Language to describe the trip
as colourful as the orange wrappers
a seasonal break from catalogue pages

The pace of our trips
dependent on diet or minor disease
we even had some words for these
worthy enough to be a title of a poem

Image by Darya-Greengrey from Pixabay

On My Mind

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Relationships / August 29, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

"Could have loved you better – didn't mean to be unkind" Willie Nelson "Always On My Mind"

How could it be
I love you better now you're gone
With a love now
country music rich and poetry pure
and what was maybe sure as sure

No more stumbles in intent or act
no more what's made up or fact

So with memories cherry-picked
I'll spoon the sundae all week long
and love you better now you're gone

Flying the Concorde

Audio Recordings, Flight, Nostalgia, Pilots, Travel / August 22, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I am not immune to the desire
to wind the stem of old time back
and with as much success as most

Except with the Concorde flew the sky
and I, pilot to pilot in the cockpit stood
and watched the earth reverse for me
on a flight from London to DC

What have I done you ask
with the slice of time I stole

Saved it in a bank of cloud
above the ocean eight miles up
where I can go if I ever wish
to write a check for a smile or a kiss

Memory Lane Jogging

Audio Recordings, Family, Nostalgia, Remembering / tagged Connections, Experience, Sharing, Story / August 5, 2025 / 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 my mother said
when she called us all in to go to bed

There are others another layer down
that digging alone I would never find
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

Working with Father

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Family, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged Chores, Work / July 28, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In the short days of a long winter
we sort nuts, bolt, and washers
against the busy days of summer

Place them in well-marked bins
accompanied always by his mentor's
Never waste five dollars worth of time
looking for a five cent bolt

The 9/16th fine-threads do not go in
with the regular or coarse

When you're four
it's not hard to geet up
at four to ride in the cattle truck to the city with your dad
excitement keeps you awake all night

There are know you need to know
reef, sheepshank, and the ever popular bowline that can still be undone even after looping a red bull weighing a ton

Hood the twine around your little finger just so, in a way that I could never get, three turns and knot the gunny sack in two seconds flat

Heel that calf, or turn the herd
drive the truck at the perfect speed
to catch the combine on the fly

There is a great deal of pleasure in doing something right, when right is the only way anything should ever be done

But never far, even yet
from the red-black cloud
of doing it wrong

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pat psooy on Saturday Night in AustinDecember 6, 2025
Kinda like that better than the shining lights of Vegas
Pamela on Grocery Shopping in AustinDecember 5, 2025
Hi Neil! And Neil is still Neil! Hoping to see you and Dorsey in the new year. My poems have…
Nancy Fierstien on Don’t Judge A House By Its CoverDecember 3, 2025
Another terse verse way to capture the way I feel about living under a blue tin roof for almost 30…
Iudita Harlan on Longing for FamilyNovember 26, 2025
Neil Lovely poem. Sending love to you and Darcy. Iudita
Nancy Fierstien on Eyes of FriendsNovember 6, 2025
Lovin' this one, line after line!

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