Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Small Town

Bit of Wisdom

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Aging, Control, Rebellion, Small Town, Youth / June 17, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Old man still tight
on the reins of his years
- Ted Kooser

In youth
he got the bit in his teeth a few times

Still trying to forget what the neighbors won't

Always rides with a tight rein now
chafing hard on a dentured mouth

Mossbank

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, String Too Short To Save / tagged Restaurant, Small Town / March 23, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Chinese Café
big – small – happy
three symbols for me

1 Reply

Night Shift

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia / tagged Cars, Small Town, Youth / August 23, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

They swoop
from beneath the eaves
carving an invitation
to the big red ship

Come slip your moorings
and follow us across the sea

Little School on the Prairie

Audio Recordings / tagged Bilingualism, Education, Mistakes, School, Small Town / August 5, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Rural Saskatchewan's
attempts at bilingualism
were not always a success

School monument with misspelled ÉCOLE (the French word for school)

1 Reply

Where News is News

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, News, Ranch Life / tagged NASA, Small Town, Space Travel / August 4, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

On April 16th 1972
Apollo 16 blasted off
for a landing on the moon

While on a farm
just outside Coderre Saskatchewan
a two headed calf was being born

For 50 miles
in all directions
one was bigger news than the other

Lea

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged jokes, memories, Small Town / July 31, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When you walked west from your home
down the main street to the heart of Coderre
a car driving in from the country
could slip up silently behind you

A quick blast of the horn
and your knees would collapse
and you’d drop like a stone

Good sport in a small town

If you were walking down that street today
and I was driving behind
I would be sorely tempted to do it again
but this time I would want to catch you

Train Day

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Travel / tagged Saskatchewan, Small Town / June 1, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Once a week, once a week
they came from all around
and swelled and swelled
the size of our young town

And the chugging grew, and the chugging grew
and the chugging grew, and the whistle blew
and all was new, and the children knew

But now the lines are down, all down
old folks and old dogs in the town
not a child nor a pup, nor a pup
and not one elevator up

Rain on the Plain

Ranch Life / tagged Bar, Beer, Small Town / August 2, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Outside the bar
the pickup trucks
get their first bath
since May

Inside
the owner tills his crop
and serves another round

Coderre Bar

Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Saskatchewan, Small Town / August 1, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When Uncle Werner used to own this bar
I never saw a fight

Which doesn’t mean that men weren’t men
and alpha games in play
shuffleboard skills, who could hold most beer
and arm wrestling for the top macho tier

I, 400 tons of bales a year strong, taking on
the big guy from the city, outweighed by 100 pounds

His lean lifts me clear off the chair
where I hold onto the underside of the table
with my thighs and knees, and smile and wait
till his fades, and falls with his knuckles

Small Town Grief

Remembering / tagged Death, Media Overload, Small Town / July 17, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

When a boy in our school died
from a word we could say but not spell
it was the only death to count

There was no tv to diminish by compare
and spread our grief so thin
it would not cover him

2 Replies

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Thanks for sharing this one, my friend. It packs a good punch, line after line. I'll be glad to give…
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You've certainly captured these crazy times with finesse and grace, my Friend!
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I'm betting "slow motion" was never your style!

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