September 2021 – Page 2 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Monthly Archives: September 2021

Old Injuries

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life / tagged Aging, Pain / September 14, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Living with
what didn’t kill you outright

Sayings like
it makes you stronger

little comfort in the morning

Them

Audio Recordings, Haiku, Relationships / September 13, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A four letter word
that puts all others to shame
who are we to blame

Under The Porch

Audio Recordings, Family, Relationships / tagged Dogs, Unconditional Love / September 12, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The thing about parents is they see you as they'd like you to be, and you ain't
The thing about teachers and coaches is they see you getting all those A's and scoring on every play, and you c'aunt
The thing about dogs is
Hey quit lickin' on my face you fool

Small Town – Grade Seven

Audio Recordings, Remembering / tagged Community / September 11, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In a town of six or seven hundred you get a cross section of the country
One classmate's father's suicide
with shotgun splattered walls
One boy my age, drowned
in an upturned truck in a muddy ditch
One with leukaemia, white as the snow
One redhead, Leslie French, as beautiful and mysterious as the language
One blonde, Shriley Long to long for
She's only interested in grade 9 boys
One bruised heart
Not yet hard enough to be broken

Teacher (in defence of schoolboy crushes)

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Relationships / tagged Education, Love, School / September 10, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

1 Reply

What We Did At Country School

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life / September 9, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The garter snake
is colorful and kind
it means no harm to man

In venomous snakes the young
are more dangerous than the old

The garter snakes have found
it is the same with man

Baby Garter Snake Crossing a Saskatchewan Road

What You Missed By Not Going To A One Room School

Audio Recordings, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Relationships, Remembering / September 8, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Your dad’s initials
jackknifed deep in a desk now yours

The worst teacher in the world
all day every long day for three years
The best teacher in the world
all day every short day for the next one

Watching other kids get the strap
being watched by them when you got it
Beating the big kids in the spelling bee
taking a beating at recess for your trouble

Melting crayons on the tin protector
three feet from the coal stove burn
Home-grown tomatoes sogging
through home-baked bread

Clapping blackboard brushes
upwind of the cough-filled cloud
Green Dust-Bane and a barn broom
pushed across an oiled wood floor

All your enemies, all your friends
no more than twenty feet away

Flat Earther Grade One

Audio Recordings / tagged Childhood, School / September 7, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Don't be silly
the earth isn't round it's hilly
But you can't tell a teacher with a marble as round and blue as my eyes that knew what they saw was true
so she taught and taught till I forgot but the hills were never the same

Off to School

Audio Recordings / September 6, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

They sent me off to school today
round-roofed lunchpail packed
with all five stages of grief

Four layer sandwich of
denial
anger
bargaining
and depression
and an apple of acceptance

I don't think I'll eat the apple

The Story of Storks

Audio Recordings, Family, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Birds, Birth / September 5, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The story of storks bringing babies
was a hard sell on the ranch
Along with watching others arrive in other ways
the storybook pictures of tile roofs and tall chimneys
didn't look much like Saskatchewan
And why such an improbable bird
carrying the little nipper in a knotted cotton nappie
(Although some foresight might be granted there)
When readily available about a mile away
was a lake full of pelicans better suited to the task

Old Wives Lake was established as a Bird Sanctuary on March 9, 1925

https://www.ibacanada.ca/site.jsp?siteID=SK031

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Ken Christopher on Buddy TrainingFebruary 19, 2025
Yep, tough love
Kimberly Heinrich on Dog YearsFebruary 18, 2025
You could not possibly have known that today was the day that I had to have my beloved dog euthanized.…
Barbara Joy Bruce on FebruaryFebruary 13, 2025
love it! Thanks, Neil!
Ken Christopher on Ancestry . BarnFebruary 7, 2025
You bet; nice one Neil
Barb on Her Mother Sings to VioletsFebruary 2, 2025
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