Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Dogs

Blue-Eyed Boy

Audio Recordings, Environment, Nature, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Childhood, Companionship, Dogs, Freedom, Play, Prairie / May 9, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Blue-eyed boy
blasts off from breakfast
like a quail on a rail

Collie dog leaps on board
and they’re off across the prairie
barely touching the tops of hills

Sun gives warmth or cloud gives shade
all depending on his whim
birds and rocks and swaying grass
everything living embraces him

Burrs don’t stick and thorns don’t prick
even fences, joining in the play
happily turn their barbs away

Floating along on the wings of four
not long now till they slam that door

Author, about age 4, on the Saskatchewan ranch

Buddy Training

Audio Recordings / tagged Dogs, Experience, Learning, Pain / February 19, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Experience is a hard teacher.
She gives the test first, the lesson after - Anonymous

Training terriers would require a world without squirrels

Or if they would not teach by taunting
but give sharp lessons to cold noses
like porcupines are kind enough to do

1 Reply

Tabula Rasa on the Ranch

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nature, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Childhood, Dogs, Solitude / February 6, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Bee thinking about
what I might have been thinking about
on those long walks, just me and the dog
and coming to the conclusion - nothing much

The dog had her nose to follow
and she older and wiser than my four or five
more likely I just followed where it took her

A covey of partridge might explode in our face
a killdeer fake hurt to mislead us from her nest
or gophers barely beat us in a race to their hole

Even though I don't remember what there was
the secret of the joy might have been what wasn't
and what there wasn't in all those acres was people

With people you had to use your wits and words
and about a hundred million ways to get it wrong

Just me and the dog it was nothing but song

Galumphing Through the Snow

Audio Recordings / tagged Dogs, Freedom, pets, Play, Winter / December 27, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Dogs without sleds leap loosely
a hound abound brings smiles to all

A House Without A Dog

Audio Recordings / tagged Comfort, Dogs, Home, pets, Unconditional Love / December 8, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A house without a dog is never truly warm
no matter what the thermostat says

A house however with a dog
is like a court with no judge or jury
Everyone gets the benefit of the doubt
and an ear scrath
by the bailiff gets you out

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

For Victor

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Aging, Care, Dogs, Love / November 30, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The only trick an old dog can learn
is how to be an old dog

The minimum of turns one has to take
before lying down for that nap

That a bark is as good as a chase
for keeping squirrels off the deck

And that after all these years
of standing up for your standing friends
you've likely earned their kneeling by you now

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

Ralph

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Dogs / November 28, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Ralph was a lab
and mostly smart as a lab
yet dumb as smart people can be

Examples of dumb...
Leaping on point from the back of a pickup
when a covey of quail had flushed
and skinning his nose on the landing
Putting porcupine on the menu for lunch
and coming home with a mouthful of quills

Example of smart...
Listening to me explain
how when you live on a ranch
forty miles from a vet I'm the vet
and quietly letting me pull them all out

GOD / DOG / MIRROR

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Death, Dogs, Faith, God, Heaven / July 16, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

GOD IS DOG IN A MIRROR
DOG IS GOD IN A MIRROR

KENNY HAD ALWAYS
A DOG AT HIS SIDE

NOW HE LIVES IN THAT SPACE
BETWEEN MIRRORS
WITH ONE ON EITHER SIDE

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