Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Death

Deer Gone

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life / tagged Alcohol, Death, Disconnection, Extinction, First Nations, Gratitude, Guns, Hunting, Ignorance / January 29, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A tough shot, 600 yards at least, running
left to right in the open sights of the 303
Aim to the top of the third jump ahead, move
the gun in a smooth arc and squeeze slow

It was a kill
I saw it as great skill
a source of blood-fed pride
and the deer… well it just died

The first nations used to see it as a kind of
revolving door, the spirit of the animal would
come back soon enough in another body if you used
the one he had given up to you with gratitude

There are not many deer in these parts anymore
Wonder if they’re trapped waiting for gratitude
the natives lost in Fort Whoop-Up whiskey

and we never knew

My Uncle Shot My Dog

Audio Recordings, Cowboy Poetry, Family, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged Death, Dogs, Forgiveness, Loyalty / December 1, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My uncle shot my dog

My ever loving ever loyal saved me from the coyotes
Went back to the ranch to lead my parents to me
stuck in the mud - just like in the movies - Lassie dog

My uncle shot my dog

Maybe she had took to bitin’ people
if she did I’m sure they had it coming

Maybe she’d got to eatin’ the chickens
if she did she’d earned every one

Maybe she was old and sick and hurtin’
maybe she was better off dead than alive

I don’t remember anyone saying that
but I doubt it would’ve helped
Not when it’s your best friend - and you’re five

My uncle shot my dog

My uncle shot my dog
and went to his grave unforgiven
Maybe I can get it done before I go to mine

Little Finnegan’s Wake

Audio Recordings / tagged Death, Determination, Dogs, Heroism, James Joyce, Literature, Loyalty, Tenacity / November 29, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Finnegan’s Wake
is a model of travail over time

It took James Joyce 17 years to write
and might take you that long to read

Finnegan is also the name
of a little Jack Russell Terrier
who went hiking with her master
Rich Moore near Pagosa Springs Colorado

They found them seventy-two days later
on a rugged slope in the San Juan Mountains
Rich leaning dead against a yellow pine
and Finnegan still fiercely standing guard
Neither Finnegan nor Joyce knew how to give up

Click here to read more about Finney’s harrowing journey: https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/richard-moore-jack-russell-terrier-pagosa-springs/

1 Reply

Where Were You When

Audio Recordings, Farm, News, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Assassination, Death, John Kennedy / November 22, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The story of how John F. Kennedy was killed
still mixes in with the story of how I heard it

Half a sentence tugging at my greasy sleeve
as I rush from the parts store in Moose Jaw

Picking up more on CBC radio in the pickup
heading west at eighty on Highway One

The urgency of the world waiting
for more news on his condition
not greater in a time of harvest
than my father's anxiety
to get the damn thing fixed
and the crop off before it rained

The moment in time when Kennedy
succumbed to his head woulds
in a Dallas hospital
was lost in the sound of the combine

Reading the News and Watching the Butterflies

Audio Recordings, Nature, News / tagged Beauty, Conflict, Death, Peace, War / November 16, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The news is filled with dying and crying
the butterflies fillet from flower to flower

If butterflies could read the news
would they also feel too heavy to fly

Wreaths

Audio Recordings, News / tagged Armistice Day, Conflict, Death, Mourning, Remembrance Day, Sacrifice, Veterans, War / November 12, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Another wreath on the cenotaph
honors the fallen in wars of the past

Black bordered envelopes
are delivered much quicker now

So let us include in our mourning
those who fell this morning
those who are falling right now
and those before your reading this

Include the weavers
of circles of roses and thorns
fingers bloody in their hurrying
trying, though they can’t, to keep up

1 Reply

Remembrance

Audio Recordings, Family / tagged Armistice Day, Death, Remembrance Day, Sacrifice, Vetrans, War, WWII / November 11, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

If Uncle Ernie
had not gone off to war before I was four

It he had not loved movies, or sat
in that seat in that theatre when

With deep gratitude to all the men and women who have endured war that we might have peace

Ode to the Farmer

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Appreciation, Danger, Death, Hunger / November 9, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

No one will be surprised by the report
that farming is a very dangerous sport

What flapping empty-fingered gloves
point back to momentary lapses
What limbs with what power
have been taken off
by power take-offs

What tendons snapped like glass
and bones cut clean as grass
by unthinking mowers

And what of those neighbours
dead and true
who for a minute forgetting
what they knew
through red machines
combined with their grain

All these have earned his dusty tear
and many a “who’s next” fear

Year after year after year after year

And yet deep in the soils of time
the seeds of his goodness
are growing
while the world
turns in slow seasons

And he will be ready
when at last they declare
a true war on poverty
and are willing to bomb
with wheat

The Farm, The Ranch and the Sweeping Scythe

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Environment, Farm, Nature, Ranch Life / tagged Adversity, Beauty, Death, Hardship, Weather / November 8, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Sunrise can be brilly bright
and all day long
everything out to get you

The horse can kick or fall
the bull has horns of steel

Every machine is grinding its teeth
in wait for a chance to bite

and every snowstorm
eager to find you
too far from the barn
and stiffen you like the manure-pile cat

The sunsets worth surviving for

1 Reply

Uno Mas Para Los Muertos

Audio Recordings, Family, Relationships / tagged Ancestors, Death, memories / November 3, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Though
the tears of the dead
be without salt

It is more kind
to remember to act
in ways that bring
them joy

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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…
barbara joy on MessagesJanuary 16, 2026
profound

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