December 2021 – Page 2 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Monthly Archives: December 2021

Inspiration

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Inspiration, Music / December 17, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I've looked at clouds from both sides now - Joni Mitchell

Saskatchewan girl Joni
with only sky for view
riding a tractor
all the long way
to the end of the field
and back again - all day

On the Passing of Mary Oliver

Audio Recordings, Nature, Poems about Poetry / December 15, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Mary Oliver did not write
the stigmata of the crosses of her childhood

Look there she said of the bear
Look here she said of the hare
See the crabs and see the sea
See the wild goose Vee not me

But all through the woods
and along the shore
there are drops to follow

Why He Didn’t Go To Mary Oliver’s Workshop

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry, Travel / December 14, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Reasons he didn’t go
to the intimate week-long
with the world famous poet
on an island off New England

What he told himself …

It was expensive
(he had the money)

He had commitments
(easy enough to change)

Difficult to get to
(his travel skills were legend)

What he didn’t tell himself …

He might have to on his return
burn everything he’d ever written

Ringing in the Fall

Audio Recordings, Nature / tagged Autumn, Falling leaves / December 12, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A girl
so beautiful in dress

It is no insult to suggest
she wait a little longer to undress

What Statues Stand For

Audio Recordings, Cattle / December 10, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Lot's wife
turned to a pillar of salt
A cautionary tale
for those who deal in such
An idol for the animals
to worship with their tongues

Henry Moore

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Art, sculpture / December 8, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Henry Moore was a smart old cowboy
a smart old cowboy was he

Just as sly as a fox
be bought twenty-foot salt blocks
and set them out in West Texas in winter

Where a thousand strong tongues
changed those basic hard foods
into a bunch of reclining nudes

There are times when it bothers
my conscience to see
them hangin’ around London,
New York, and D.C.

Then I remember old Hank is one of the boys
just suckerin’ some dudes with these toys

So I decide not to chip off the bronze

Winner at the Great Salt Lick Contest, Baker City Oregon
https://whitdeschner.com/salt-lick-gallery/

1 Reply

Dreams of My Father

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged Illness, Stroke / December 7, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Six weeks you lay in a coma
what dreams you had
I never asked, you never said

The telling of dreams
was not a morning ritual in our home

If in grade two
I had been asked of yours
I'd most likely have said
More cows and a better horse

Cowversations

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life / December 5, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

One of the reasons I got out of ranching
was the long drought of good conversation

Cowhands
true to their fame are men of few words

Horses ain’t bad
they will at least point their ears and pretend

But cows, it was the cows that did it
how they’d saucer eye like listening
while you chewed them out in detail
about all the dumb things that they’d done

Turn away to ruminate upon the lesson
and two days later kick you for no reason

Cows in the Rain

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows / tagged Meditation / December 3, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Cows in the rain
standing still as time

Red coats black
and black coats blacker

Calm as a statue of the Buddha
who will not break a mudra to wipe a dripping brow

Horse Shadows

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Remembering / tagged Cowboys / December 2, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Horse Shadows - for Lady and Rusty

Only in western movies
men die before their horses

The rest of us old cowboys
still carry them carrying us

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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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