Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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An Invitation

Uncategorized / September 21, 2018 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Neil wanders the world in awe – Mirrors and metaphor everywhere. You can join him on this journey with a Poem in your Inbox every day. CLICK HERE to start today

A Little to the Right

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Communication, Misunderstanding, Understanding / November 17, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

How does the heron
learn about refraction
and that the fish is not
where the fish appears to be

It is a matter of survival I suppose

Like me learning the difference
and the angle of intent
between what you said
and what you meant

Sanctuary

Audio Recordings, Environment, Nature / tagged Birds, Contemplation, Peace, Reflection, Solitude / November 16, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Hard by Mount Allison U.
in New Brunswick Canada
lies a protected marshland
where students and birds
can come for quiet reflection

There's one watching
a heron watching a heron now

Photo credit: William Bullock

Lonely

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Isolation, Sadness, Separation / November 15, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

If being different is lonely
and fake-the-same feels worse

And God too busy with people
with real problems in their prayers

And you start to feel like the boy
so ugly his mother had to tie
a pork chop around his neck
to get the dog to play with him

And this is the part of the poem
where helpful hints should appear

Sorry dear

Homeless

Audio Recordings / tagged Desparation, Loneliness / November 14, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Being homeless
is to have no history or story

The houseless
often those with theirs untold

Though I think not all are silent
round the bonfires of the damned

Homeless Haiku

Audio Recordings, Haiku / tagged Desperation, Hunger, Poverty, Unhoused / November 13, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

On a cold corner
flying signs of the times
may you land softly

To War and Then What

Audio Recordings / tagged Addiction, Loss of Innocence, Memorials, PTSD, Trauma, War / November 12, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

To send your children away
to come back corpses or killers
and there may be less difference
between them than we know

In the musical Streets written
for the homeless of Austin
they sing of the addicted vet
put to rest thirty years later

He really died in Vietnam
put his name up on the wall

Remembrance Day Coming Up A Storm

Audio Recordings, Remembering / tagged Armistice Day, Death, Grief, Mourning, Peace, Sacrifice, Soldiers, Veterans, War / November 11, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The wind dries
tears upon the cheeks
while flags go clapping on

Leaves & petals
dance on wreaths
leaning on the cenotaph

And is that
whisling that we hear
a tune for less war or more

Prairie Boys

Audio Recordings / tagged Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, Travel, Veterans, War / November 10, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Peaceful in a non-committal way
more likely to be killed by machinery
than a fellow human being

If you wanted to see a war
you would have to travel across
a great deal of land and more sea

Careful always with your cash
you would not purchase a return ticket

Going off to war – North West Mounted Police Division – Expanse, Saskatchewan, 1915

Mittens

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life / tagged Community, Leaving Home, War / November 9, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Fingers in mittens
are family keeping
each other warm

The cold indifference of gloves
much like the city fold that wore them

Pilots in the war had
mittens with a trigger finger
to do what needed to be done

Somewhere we had got a pair
a hero sometimes has to leave home

Losses

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Death, Grief / November 8, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Empty as a mouth full of snow - Lois P. Jones

We lost another calf
we lost another crop

We lost an uncle in the war

These are not like keys of city folks
that they find in their other coat

The things we lose out here
don't come back any more

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Nancy Fierstien on Eyes of FriendsNovember 6, 2025
Lovin' this one, line after line!
Nancy Fierstien on Light on LeavesNovember 2, 2025
Yet another favorite of mine! How can I hold back this "THANK YOU!" ???
Sandi Hebley on How Fallen AngelsAugust 17, 2025
Indeed!
Nancy Fierstien on Unremember ThatAugust 16, 2025
Gonna be inclined to share this one at my Poets' Tea reading tomorrow afternoon. Thanks, Neil!
Sandi Hebley on Memory Lane JoggingAugust 5, 2025
Lovely!

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Haiku
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Poems about Poetry
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Remembering
String Too Short To Save
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