Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: pets

Farm Dog

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Death, Dogs, Farewell, Goodbye, Love, pets, Rules / June 23, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My dad doesn't allow pets in the house
they weren't allowed in on the farm
where he grew up either

Once, when he was eight
the dog came up the stairs

down the hall to the room on the right
where his young mother lay dying

Laid his head for a moment on her lap
and went out again

GOD / DOG / MIRROR

Audio Recordings / tagged Afterlife, Companionship, Connection, Death, pets / May 28, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

For Kenny Wirges

God is Dog in a mirrror
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

For Victor

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Aging, Dogs, Learning, Love, pets, Wisdom / May 27, 2026 / 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 chace
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

Dogs and Boys

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Companionship, Connection, Dogs, Love, pets / May 25, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Twenty thousand years
they walked the plains together

The boy did not know that
The dog did not know that

Or did they

Photo of author’s Uncle Bruce with Pepper circa 1928

A Manx’s Tale

Audio Recordings / tagged Cats, Death, Grief, Love, Mourning, pets / April 2, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There's nothing as strong or as fragile as life
And nothing soft as a kitten's purr

And I'm awake and I'm sad and it's three in the morning
And it's Mother's Day and she doesn't even live in kittens

She and Jane would curl up together while I stayed up and wrote or worked or worried
Later I'd slip quietly into the warmth of
steady breathing and the soft blanket
of sound it rested on

In the night (not fickle but generous) she would go from bed to bed and bring to each of the children the comfort they might need
and lay down the same soft cushions for their sweet dreams

I don't know what her life was, or where it's gone or how to say thanks
and I can't sleep

It's two days now since she's been around
and the bedroom echoes
with the absence of her sound

Another for the Cat

Audio Recordings, Nature / tagged Cats, pets, Spring, Wild Animals / April 1, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It's spring again
and the cat won't stay in
feralmones must be kicking in

Photo credit: James Bullock with thanks to Lady Grey

1 Reply

One for the Cat

Audio Recordings / tagged Aging, Cats, pets / March 31, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Buffy at fourteen
down to only two speeds
catnap and catnip

Black Beauty

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Cats, pets / March 29, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When we moved to Grandfather's old farm
no on had been living there for a while
and all the cats had gone wild

We found a litter of kittens
hidden deep in a corner of the loft
and among them
the most beautiful black and white kitten

Spitting and crouching under the eaves
she scratched all of us to the bone
If I'd been a tree there would
have been six rings

Much persistence we got her out
much time and love and we tamed her
if one every really tames a cat

Best cat ever
adopted by our cousins when we moved
and one of the things we most looked forward to on our visits was Black Beauty and her newest of who knew how many litters

The tomcats in that town were also
excelled judges of beauty

Dervil

Audio Recordings / tagged Cats, Intelligence, pets, Reincarnation / March 28, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Dervil was the only cat
I ever knew with opposable thumbs

He didn't really have them
but you could see
that he remembered them
from a recent incarnation
as a slightly lower life form

Studiously unrolling the roll and flushing it down the toilet

Standing tall to grasp and turn
handles on the doors

About Beauty

Audio Recordings, Travel / tagged Appreciation, Cats, pets / March 27, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The thing
about beauty is everything

There were angel wing
clouds in the sky driving home
and there was home

Cats have nine lives
and three sets of eyelids

Is it pity for our poorness
when they look at us that way

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Sandi Hebley on The Man in the Desert RemembersJuly 21, 2026
Wow!
JM on The Man in the Desert RemembersJuly 21, 2026
This one really hit home Thank you
Judy Migel on TearsJuly 20, 2026
Dorsey is right. It is even more beautiful to hear the words in your voice and all the emotion in…
Eda Lishman on Lost at SeaJuly 16, 2026
Oh, Neil: This reflection sure hits the times we are a-living. Each day and night those of us who are…
Sandi Hebley on Eagle Bone WhistleJuly 6, 2026
Beautiful!!

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