Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Death

Man Upright

Audio Recordings, News, Personal Growth / tagged Death, evolution, Hope, Kindness, War / March 18, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Carpet bombings in Ukraine
Concentration camps in China
Mass shooting du jour in the USA

Who would blame you for believing
that man is a natural miserable critter
and any decency the rare exception

If you want to spit out that cactus turd
try starting out each day with a search
for someone doing something kind
even if it has to be you

1 Reply

Not Being in Ukraine

Audio Recordings, News, Poems about Poetry / tagged Atrocities, Death, Russia, Ukraine, War / March 16, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Not being in Ukraine
we have no right to write

Not being in Ukraine
our silence is a treachery

Ostap Slyvynsky is in Ukraine
he has a right to write of wrongs

It is two a.m. in Texas
I will not make them right by reading
will not wake anyone by not sleeping

In court there is a witness stand
made of dark wood dark things are said

If this were not so, no justice done
I will ask the steno to read them again

Ukrainian Poet Ostap Slyvynsky

Survival

Audio Recordings, Family, News / tagged Death, Despair, Fear, Loneliness, War / February 24, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There are wolves
everywhere and closer

Your parents are busy flailing
at the snarling snouts and dripping fangs

Busy wrapping their own and each other's bloody wounds

While you curl up, cold and lonely
in the bottom of the sleigh
thinking, I'll die if someone
doesn't pick me up and hold me soon

Thinking of the children of Ukraine on the 1st anniversary of the Russian invasion

A Poem in Waiting

Audio Recordings, News, Poems about Poetry / tagged Death, Ukraine, War / February 23, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

You’re early or they’re late
Cheap chairs and no mags
another covid cancellation

Time drags
Search for similes begins

Long lines
outside the Pearly Gates
after earthquake in Turkey

and Putin puttin’ on the blitz

February 24th marks the one year anniversary of Putin’s blundering blitzkrieg attack on Ukraine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkTCRWihPNo

Just Blues

Audio Recordings, News, Relationships / tagged Covid19, Death, Despair, Friendship, Sadness / February 16, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

“Nothing” the unjust man complained
“is just”(“or un-” the just rejoined
e.e. cummings

Just coughing my way thru covid

Just reading the morning news
full of earthquakes and arrogance

Just noting that the cow
(meaning the price of beef)
has jumped over the moon
and taken the lettuce with it

Just missing to the bone
my bucket brigade of joy
who have kicked it

Just not pulling off this time
that old cure for the curse

Just not feeling any better
because others got it worse

Holocaust Happens

Audio Recordings, News, Remembering / tagged Death, Education, Holocaust, War / January 29, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Yesterday was holocaust reminder day
Remembrance day for those who remember
Reminder day for those who forgot
Shofar calling to those who’ve never heard

The Crow

Audio Recordings / tagged Death, Hunting / January 17, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

2 Replies

The Innocence of Armies

Audio Recordings, Nature, News / tagged Death, War, Winter / December 30, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Each snowflake is unique

You can freeze to death
ten feet from your door
in a blizzard

Every child is beautiful

This is difficult to remember
when they have gathered
into swirling armies

Dreams of Flying

Audio Recordings / tagged Death, Dreams / December 3, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

For getting out the window
the best stroke is the breaststroke
after you get up speed soaring is easy

I wonder if that’s what dying is like

I wonder if Chagall
or Tibetan guides through the bardo
have any hints on how to stick the landing

1 Reply

Horses are Dangerous Critters

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / tagged Death, Horses, Luck / November 21, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Make no mistake
every ride you are taking
reins and your life in your hands

Who can forget Bonnie Blue Butler
breaking hearts of Scarlett and Rhett
Christopher Reeve thrown like kryptonite
or Maxentius thrown and drowned in the Tiber

And the time Pinto Pete
steps in a prairie badger hole
while running full speed down the hill
and ass over teakettle does a full forward flip
ending up standing, me beside him reins in hand

Sometimes you live to write the poem
sometimes someone else will have to do it for you

1 Reply

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Tom on Basketball in CanadaApril 18, 2025
Neil, as you may know we live about 15 miles from his former farm. The locals have installed a bronze…
Ken Christopher on Hockey Night in CanadaApril 17, 2025
Good one, it’s still goin on
Ken Christopher on ShitstormApril 4, 2025
My former comment had an error, should have read: Great poem Neil, has some slippery elements that mix it up…
Kenneth on Walden PondApril 3, 2025
Siblants interlapping with interference waves construct this delightful hologram of spring: well done my friend
Ken Christopher on Minutia in MarchApril 1, 2025
21 beats, 4 past hyku, (sp); perhaps a new form. Beautiful poem

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