Ranch Life – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Ranch Life

All They Survey

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Contentment, Pride / June 18, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My father
would stand for hours
just looking at his cows

Like God leaning
on a rail fence in heaven
pleased with his creation

Co-Boss

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / June 17, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Co-boss. Co-boss
to call the Holstein home

Co-boss. Co-boss and she comes
in full-udder-rocking rhythm
along the well-trod pasture path

Steps careful into the shadows
and hoof clicks to the second stall
for the evening exchange of gifts

Relief and oats and hay for her
warm milk for the kittens and me
cream and butter for the kitchen

Co-boss. Co-boss to say
equal partners in a gently way

Only One Boss in the Corral

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life / June 16, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

If you're in the corral at roundup time
you better be ready to think or listen fast

When half a tonw of fear-blind beef
has a horn lined up with your ass
and the boss says jump you jump

Democracy is a thing of beauty
but there's a time and a place for that

The Sunday-Go-Meeting Suit

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Church, Clothing / June 14, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It only took but one
and it usually came in brown
for marryin in and buryin in
and going off to town

The pants they came in twos
to double the life and use
each shining like an aura
from those well worn wooden pews

Spring in Moose Jaw

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Aging, Retirement / June 12, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In the city
retired farmers still watch
the weather

In greening front yards
wooden ducks nailed to
white posts

Wings spinning
backwards

A Prairie Villanelle

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life, Relationships, Remembering, Travel / June 11, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

If prairie wheels again had I
I'd chew the gravel and the air
with prairie roads to fly

I'd plume the earth into the sky
to show them I was there
if prairie wheels again had I

Past places where dead neighbours lie
I'd not linger who would dare
with prairie roads to fly

Dust to dust gets in your eye
I'd look for other things to share
if prairie wheels again had I

Then greener farmyards I'd pass by
in mem-mirages free of care
with prairie roads to fly

I'd roll past all that makes you cry
afloat in sunsets clear and fair
if prairie wheels again had I
with prairie roads to fly

Roses in My Rear View Mirror

Audio Recordings, Family, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Relationships, Remembering / tagged memories / June 8, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

(and a few bluebonnets too)

There's a family always laughing
There are girls, and they're all smiling

There's a collie dog a roaming
chasing gophers down their holes

There's a ranch with grass all greening
fifteen minutes after rain

Maybe you can go home again

Yippee Ai-Ku

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Haiku, Ranch Life / May 21, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Branding time again
babies torn from their mothers
cowcalfany of sound

Kenny and Me

Audio Recordings, Cowboy Poetry, Family, Ranch Life, Relationships / May 14, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

(or Ranching at Eighteen)

Together we were young
and strong and very bold
and together we could drink
more beer than we could hold

We could drive home late and fast
singing every Johnny Horton song
Then fall asleep for minutes
and still answer the morning gong

We would work it out in the hot hot sun
(so easy then did the poisons yield) As we sweated bales with pitch forks
and passed gas
in a thousand acre field

Moisture is Moisture

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Farming, Rain, Snow / April 26, 2026 / 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
about equals 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

In celebration of April blizzards

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Sandi Hebley on What the Hell VillanelleJune 10, 2026
Had to go look up “villanelle.” 😏
Sandi Hebley on The AlbumsJune 6, 2026
💕 I love our old albums!
Sandi Hebley on JudyJune 1, 2026
😢 Hugs!
Kimberly Heinrich on The Other WellMay 31, 2026
Neil: THANK YOU for this!! Love it!! You are the best!!!💕💕
Sandi Hebley on Timmy’s Down the WellMay 29, 2026
🤗 Love this!

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