Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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A Neil a Day Poems

Strapping Youth

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Education, Violence / March 6, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A one room school
was a one teacher school
when she was good it was good
and when she was bad it was awful

Those were the days
of the strap on the hand
and a mix of shame and pain that remain

We all had rifles at home
but never thought to bring them to school

What We Did at Country School

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life / tagged Cruelty, Danger / March 5, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The garter snake
is colourful and kind
it means no harm to man

In venomous snakes the young
are more dangerous than the old

The garter snakes have found
it is the same with man

Small School Pictures

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Childhood, Education / March 4, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Seven students and eight grades
with the inkwells covered to save the braids

Desks with dad's initials carved years ago
and lessons meant for other ears
more interesting than your own
as you crammed to sting
the older kids in spelling bees

Recess, with garter snakes, gophers and mice
which girls who were being chased, and teachers with just opened desk drawers didn't think were so nice
and a big teeter totter on the north side high enough
to get a bobbing glimpse of one of the big boys
hand outstretched for a well deserved strap

In winter, a pot-bellied stove in the back of the room
with a big tin shield to keep us from burning ourselves
any lapse in supervision adding to its decor as we melted wax crayons into modern art on its silver sides

The colours still fresh

How I Lost My Faith – In Preachers

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life, Travel / tagged Cowardice, Humor / March 3, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It was a cold and muddy Sunday
Our little caravan of Christians
children, parents and student minister
stuck in the spring mud a mile from church

Me and city cousin Wayne
the chosen ones at age seven
chosen to walk
to the nearest neighbor
while the others wait in the cars

The neighbour's not home
but his Cockshutt 40 tractor is

Some combination of farm boy bravado
and reluctance to slog
back to the cars in defeat
comes out as "I can drive a tractor!"

One foot each on the clutch and a good deal of riding gets us into low gear
and off at about 2 miles per

The student minister meets us
two thirds of the way back

As our leader
in all things spiritual and practical
he decrees that we are going
far too slow
and selects another gear
(probably at random, he's from the city too)

The one he picks is the fastest
known in these parts as "Road Gear"
and we quickly accelerate to thirty

which causes the preacher to panic
(or remember the he forgot his bible)
and leap off

leaving us to wrestle the big red monster
now wildly careening from rut to rut
and rocketing toward the mired cars
and fearful families

Wrenching the wheel to
at the last possible moment
we narrowly avoid death and destruction
and stall to stop in the water-filled ditch
amidst the prayers of the congregation

1 Reply

A Caution Against Too Much Church Too Soon

Audio Recordings, Family / tagged Religion / March 2, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Brother Wally at age three or four
sitting on the tracks as the train approaches
wanting to find out what it's like to be an angel

The last minute rescue
granting him some fame and slack
when he went back to being
the little devil he had been the day before

Little Church

Audio Recordings, Family, Ranch Life / tagged Children, Embarrassment, Humor, Religion / March 1, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Sometimes as far from everywhere as we were
a visiting or student minister would make the long trek and our one room school would become a church for the day

It didn't happen often
so the first time my three year old brother
sitting in the second row heard him say Jesus Christ he turned and said
"He swore Mom the minister swore
"Shh" said my mother
"He swore, he swore, he swore" said Wally
every effort to silence him only increasing his insistence and volume

Most fun that most of us, except my mother
ever had in church

Worry Insurance

Audio Recordings, News / tagged Concern, Fear, Prayer / February 28, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

None of the things
our mother worried about
where were many ever happened

Wishing she was here
today - I could give her such a list

War No More

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Conflict, Fodder, Military, Peace, Replacements, War / February 27, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

He wanted to end all wars
by stepping out of the killing line
to write a poem that would stop it all

Surprised to find how fast
the next steps up and the line moves on

Stepping on a Lego

Audio Recordings / tagged Pain, Surprise, Toys, Weapons / February 26, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

If land mines are weapons
of mass destruction in slow motion

and malaria has a return policy
that never finds a convenient time

why are we so surprised to find
and always so bare or sock-footed
an innocent block sending us skywards

Adages are Cabbages

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Assumptions, Cliques, Loyalty / February 25, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The friend of my friend is my friend
the enemy of my friend my enemy
and the enemy of my enemy my friend

Except those last two aren't true
when it keeps me from turning
a temperenemy into a friend

Adages are cabbages
swallowing can give you gas

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Eda Lishman on How I Lost My Faith – In PreachersMarch 3, 2026
An epic moment for seven year olds! Wow how many lessons can you have in one incident? And a few…
Nancy Fierstien on A Tear for the RichFebruary 23, 2026
Another gem worth it's weight in gold from you, Neil Meili!
Sandi Hebley on Lonely LightFebruary 12, 2026
How sweet!
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…

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