Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Cats

A Manx’s Tale

Audio Recordings / tagged Cats, Death, Grief, Love, Mourning, pets / April 2, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There's nothing as strong or as fragile as life
And nothing soft as a kitten's purr

And I'm awake and I'm sad and it's three in the morning
And it's Mother's Day and she doesn't even live in kittens

She and Jane would curl up together while I stayed up and wrote or worked or worried
Later I'd slip quietly into the warmth of
steady breathing and the soft blanket
of sound it rested on

In the night (not fickle but generous) she would go from bed to bed and bring to each of the children the comfort they might need
and lay down the same soft cushions for their sweet dreams

I don't know what her life was, or where it's gone or how to say thanks
and I can't sleep

It's two days now since she's been around
and the bedroom echoes
with the absence of her sound

Another for the Cat

Audio Recordings, Nature / tagged Cats, pets, Spring, Wild Animals / April 1, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It's spring again
and the cat won't stay in
feralmones must be kicking in

Photo credit: James Bullock with thanks to Lady Grey

1 Reply

One for the Cat

Audio Recordings / tagged Aging, Cats, pets / March 31, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Buffy at fourteen
down to only two speeds
catnap and catnip

Black Beauty

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Cats, pets / March 29, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When we moved to Grandfather's old farm
no on had been living there for a while
and all the cats had gone wild

We found a litter of kittens
hidden deep in a corner of the loft
and among them
the most beautiful black and white kitten

Spitting and crouching under the eaves
she scratched all of us to the bone
If I'd been a tree there would
have been six rings

Much persistence we got her out
much time and love and we tamed her
if one every really tames a cat

Best cat ever
adopted by our cousins when we moved
and one of the things we most looked forward to on our visits was Black Beauty and her newest of who knew how many litters

The tomcats in that town were also
excelled judges of beauty

Dervil

Audio Recordings / tagged Cats, Intelligence, pets, Reincarnation / March 28, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Dervil was the only cat
I ever knew with opposable thumbs

He didn't really have them
but you could see
that he remembered them
from a recent incarnation
as a slightly lower life form

Studiously unrolling the roll and flushing it down the toilet

Standing tall to grasp and turn
handles on the doors

About Beauty

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Appreciation, Cats, pets / March 27, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The thing
about beauty is everything

There were angel wing
clouds in the sky driving home
and there was home

Cats have nine lives
and three sets of eyelids

Is it pity for our poorness
when they look at us that way

Winter in the Barn

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Cats, Horses, Memory / January 14, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Steam rises off the backs of big horses

The old Holstein in the second stall
shifts her weight from side to side
matching the rhythm of the milking
and flicks her tail at memories
of summer flies

Across the width of the barn
I stand with mouth open
in my biggest five-year-old oval
catching most of the milk
squirted dead-eye straight
by the laughing hired man

In the tack room
kittens wait by a tin plate
to put their morning moustache on

In my memory it is always warm in the barn

Tabby La Rosa

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nature, Ranch Life / tagged Cats, Education, Horses, Kittens, Learning / May 15, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Horses are cats
they just want to be
petted and loved

Although
when you neglect to do so
they are much more likely
to send you flying
than piss on your best Persian mat

That sort of thing is reserved for cats
and cats are not horses
and deeply resent being ridden

as every toddling two-year-old
in history (unable to read history)
will have to have etched
on the blank slates of their skin

A Manx’s Tale

Audio Recordings, Family, Relationships / tagged Cats, Death / May 14, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There’s nothing as strong or as fragile as life
And nothing as soft as a kitten’s purr

And I’m awake and I’m sad and it’s three in the morning
And it’s mothers day and she doesn’t even live in kittens

She and Jane would curl up together while I stayed
up and wrote or worked or worried
Later I’d slip quietly into the warmth of
steady breathing and the soft blanket
of sound it rested on

In the night (not fickle but generous) she would go
from bed to bed and bring to each of the children the
comfort they might need
and lay down the same soft cushions
for their sweet dreams

I don’t know what her life was or where it’s gone or
how to say thanks, and I can’t sleep

It’s two days now since she’s been around
and the bedroom echoes
with the absence of her sound

1 Reply

Black Beauty

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Cats / August 27, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When we moved to Grandfather’s
old farm
no one had been living there for a while
and all the cats had gone wild

We found a litter of kittens
hidden deep in a corner of the loft
and among them
the most beautiful black and white kitten

Spitting and crouching under the eaves
she scratched us all to the bone
If I’d been a tree there would
have been six rings

Much persistence and we got her out
much time and love and we tamed her
if one ever really tames a cat
Best cat ever
adopted by our cousins when we moved
and one of the things we most looked forward
to on our visits was Black Beauty and her newest of who knew how many litters

The tomcats in that town were also
excellent judges of beauty

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