Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Death

Small Town Grade Seven

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Remembering / tagged Childhood, Death, Heartbreak, Small Town / June 20, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In a town of six or seven hundred
you get a cross section of the country

One classmate's father's suicide
with shotgun splattered walls

One boy my age, drowned
in an upturned truck in a muddy ditch

One with leukaemia, white as the snow

One redhead, Leslie French, as beautiful and mysterious as the language

One blonde, Shirley Long, to long for

She's only interested in grade 9 boys

One bruised heart

Not yet hard enough to be broken

Hard to Get War Poems to Rhyme

Audio Recordings / tagged Death, Loss, War / June 3, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

"No more wars will be won"
- Kris Kristofferson "Under the Gun"

There is a strage beauty in the camaraderie
and how else woould the farm boys see Paree

But the rhyme that comes up every time is crime

Kris Kristofferson “Under the Gun”

1 Reply

The Sadness of Flags

Audio Recordings, Haiku / tagged Death, Regret, War / June 2, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Should not all flags fly
half-mast always to decry
deaths that they have caused

Raising the Titanic

Audio Recordings, Nature / tagged Aging, Death, Dr. Joe Dispenza, Illusions, Time, Wellness, Youth / April 14, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

with gratitude to Dr. Joe

Remember when we were old
and used to spend all of our gold
on lotions and potions and medics galore
and every new fat at the health food store

Tar for the seams of a sinking ship
thinking we were near the end of the trip

But if time
is but a wrinkle in thought
just think of all that we've got

Today marks the 113th anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic.

Terminal

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Death, Heaven, Hell, Materialism, Temptation / January 15, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Direct flights
to heaven are for angels only

Most of us will have to go
through hell or Dallas on the way

Your luggage will be lost in Denver
and moving sidewalks mostly don't

The whole hall is one long mall
meant to tempt you on your way
and the big board for listing gates
never states which is the pearly one

Photo of Denver International Airport

Not Quite Sainthood

Audio Recordings / tagged Death, Humor, Last Word, Presidents, Trump / January 14, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Jimmy Carter was
an eminently decent man

but not above living this long
just to throw half-mast shade
on an inauguration parade

Image courtesy of The Carter Center

Maynard Download

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Connection, Death, Guides, Technology / January 10, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Maynard and Leanne
were love and learning
writers teachers and seers

Leanne had gone on
leaving Maynard her learning
you know how it is these days
one iphone touching another

All afternoon he shared stories
some in words, some in code
one iphone touching another

Not sure about the passwords
but if you lean close to this poem

https://pathoftheheartwriting.com/guidance

Conversion

Audio Recordings / tagged Death, Faith, Martyrdom, Repentance / December 31, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When near
the end of arise descend

Should I embrace the papacy
for the comfort of last rights

Or turn my face to Mecca
and strap on a belt of bombs
for all the virgins waiting

Don’t Sam McGee Me

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Cremation, Death, Robert Service / December 12, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Klondike cold or no
I will not
in the furnace go

deny the dancing worms
their dance

or diet overly
to short them in their feast

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service

After the Death

Audio Recordings / tagged Anguish, Death, Grief, Loss / November 30, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

(for Orli and Gideon)

These are the days of the rats in the cages

The burrowing into sawdust corners
and gnawing on bars
and the running on wheels
mostly the running on wheels

Even at night, specially at night
white God in his lab coat naps in the corner

and you know with perfect logic and insanity

If you could just do it fast enough
if you could just do it right enough

Like the wheels of old watches
all the cogs would fit the way they used to
when the good ones all had jewels
sleeping safe in their dark cases

And each morning you had to wind them up
if you wanted hours in your day

And you know, wish, know, wish, know,
that this is another way that this must go

And if you could just get the woulda, coulda, shoulda, could, woulds, shoulda, woulda, coulda, shoulda , wheels to mesh their gears just right

You could turn it all back

The 20th year of celebrating the short but impactful life of Tildan with a memorial swim in her honor

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Nancy Fierstien on Hard to Get War Poems to RhymeJune 3, 2025
Thanks for sharing this one, my friend. It packs a good punch, line after line. I'll be glad to give…
Christie flaman on Going ProMay 17, 2025
Old cowboy saying: Never a horse that couldn’t be rode, never a cowboy that couldn’t be thrown Thank you for…
Ken Christopher on Going ProMay 16, 2025
That’s pretty funny, and fun to read
Nancy Fierstien on Spring Came InMay 12, 2025
You've certainly captured these crazy times with finesse and grace, my Friend!
Nancy Fierstien on Remembering WhenMay 8, 2025
I'm betting "slow motion" was never your style!

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