Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Joy

Singing in Showers and Cars

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Joy, Music / December 6, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Kenny had a booming voice
and could carry a tune
and anyone who couldn't

Singing in the shower
you only have yourself and water
and the echoes of the walls

The cubic space in an old pickup cab
is about the same as a shower stall

Sometimes we sang
with the windows open
and gravel heavy on the bass
Sometimes it was raining
as we synced along
singing every Johnny Horton song

in the best studio in the world
in the best of all worlds

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

Audio Recordings, Flight, Pilots / tagged Joy, Wonder / July 13, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Wouldn't it be nice
if you went out with your instructor one morning
and the blue foothills sky was full of white puff ball clouds

And you smiled at each other
and began to play in and out of their magic
of shadows and light

And it felt much as lighter than air
as air is lighter than earth

And the hour took moments and forever
and the silence and awe followed you back
and he wouldn't even take your money for the ride

Now I know it's not legal to fly in clouds like that
so I'm not exactly saying that it happened
but wouldn't it be nice

The Twinkle

Audio Recordings, Family, Relationships / tagged Joy, Light / March 31, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There is a thing about light
no matter where it starts
it never stops

Even if it takes a million years
to get from the twinkling stars
to here

There was a twinkle in the eyes of this man
A twinkle of innocent mischief and inner joy
greeting every man and woman
every girl and boy

When you saw it you knew that he liked you
and never doubted that you’d like him too

And he was right

Because there is a thing about light

A million years from now
and no one knows how far
they will see it on some star

A poem composed for the author’s father’s funeral in 1997

Copper Left Her Laugh

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Remembering / tagged Death, Joy, Memory / March 29, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It is on
her answering machine
It is in
the hearts
of a thousand friends
as she laughs at death
or with it

Hi Ho Hi Ho

Audio Recordings, Farm, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / tagged Joy, Work / March 24, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Work

I sometimes think about it, but not too hard

Like, shouldn’t there be a different word
for doing what we love or hate for money

Like how I got to drive big trucks at eighteen
that I dreamed about at eight
and they paid me

Like playing cowboy and riding the range
where the deer and the antelope play
and getting paid

Building buildings bigger than Lego
and getting paid

Maybe work is about being serious
but I seriously question that too

I mean, what can be more joyous and serious
than a child adding one last block to his tower
or me, as I write this poem and look up
to see it is 1:25 in the morning

With Crayons

Audio Recordings / tagged Art, Childhood, Creativity, Joy / January 15, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A child with crayons
multi coloured fountain
bathe in it today

Children with crayons
multi coloured fountains
swim with them today

Laughing With the Dead

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Remembering / tagged Heaven, Joy, Laughter / October 23, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In loving memory of Sharon Stuart, Hal Stone and Copper Love

Tears of Sugar

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Funeral, Gratitude, Grief, Joy / September 16, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Tears of sugar
tears of salt

So beautiful or so sad
and sometimes half and half

Like stories at a wake
- Oh how she made us laugh

Blue-Eyed Boy

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Childhood, Dog, Freedom, Joy / July 8, 2022 / 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 prairies
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
won't be long till they slam that door

2 Replies

Play

Personal Growth / tagged Depression, Joy, Mid-Life Crisis, serendipity / September 18, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Halfway through our life’s journey
I woke to find myself within a dark wood
- Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy

Heavy of body and soul
things to do and things undone

Head down and plod of foot
the sands of Santa Monica
at the age of Dante in his dive

What’s this beyond the foam
five dolphins parallel in play

I walk, they pace my pace
I turn they turn with my return

Complete the mile to coax a smile
seven layers Dante upside down

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