Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Joy

Rinpoche at Esalen

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth / tagged Esalen, God, Joy, Spirituality / February 23, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Small round happy
Tibetan spirit bubbling
teaching from his words and being
The search for God is everything
but it is not serious

Past Translating Present

Audio Recordings, News / tagged Dictators, Joy, MAGA, Nazi, Perspective, Power, Regret, Trump / January 21, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In her youth she'd been a Hitler Youth
filled with purpose and power
and the joy of pre-teen camaraderie

All now dimmed and damned wheen seen
through smoke from Auschwitz ovens
though somewhere in her still it shines
brightest diamond of her life

This was the story, or was it two
she sought my help to put to poem

That was thirty years ago
I might do a better job today
informed by watching rallies
filled with power hope and joy
and how it will look in their regret

Singing in Showers and Cars

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Joy, Music / December 6, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Kenny had a booming voice
and could carry a tune
and anyone who couldn't

Singing in the shower
you only have yourself and water
and the echoes of the walls

The cubic space in an old pickup cab
is about the same as a shower stall

Sometimes we sang
with the windows open
and gravel heavy on the bass
Sometimes it was raining
as we synced along
singing every Johnny Horton song

in the best studio in the world
in the best of all worlds

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

Audio Recordings, Flight, Pilots / tagged Joy, Wonder / July 13, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Wouldn't it be nice
if you went out with your instructor one morning
and the blue foothills sky was full of white puff ball clouds

And you smiled at each other
and began to play in and out of their magic
of shadows and light

And it felt much as lighter than air
as air is lighter than earth

And the hour took moments and forever
and the silence and awe followed you back
and he wouldn't even take your money for the ride

Now I know it's not legal to fly in clouds like that
so I'm not exactly saying that it happened
but wouldn't it be nice

The Twinkle

Audio Recordings, Family, Relationships / tagged Joy, Light / March 31, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There is a thing about light
no matter where it starts
it never stops

Even if it takes a million years
to get from the twinkling stars
to here

There was a twinkle in the eyes of this man
A twinkle of innocent mischief and inner joy
greeting every man and woman
every girl and boy

When you saw it you knew that he liked you
and never doubted that you’d like him too

And he was right

Because there is a thing about light

A million years from now
and no one knows how far
they will see it on some star

A poem composed for the author’s father’s funeral in 1997

Copper Left Her Laugh

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Remembering / tagged Death, Joy, Memory / March 29, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It is on
her answering machine
It is in
the hearts
of a thousand friends
as she laughs at death
or with it

Hi Ho Hi Ho

Audio Recordings, Farm, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / tagged Joy, Work / March 24, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Work

I sometimes think about it, but not too hard

Like, shouldn’t there be a different word
for doing what we love or hate for money

Like how I got to drive big trucks at eighteen
that I dreamed about at eight
and they paid me

Like playing cowboy and riding the range
where the deer and the antelope play
and getting paid

Building buildings bigger than Lego
and getting paid

Maybe work is about being serious
but I seriously question that too

I mean, what can be more joyous and serious
than a child adding one last block to his tower
or me, as I write this poem and look up
to see it is 1:25 in the morning

With Crayons

Audio Recordings / tagged Art, Childhood, Creativity, Joy / January 15, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A child with crayons
multi coloured fountain
bathe in it today

Children with crayons
multi coloured fountains
swim with them today

Laughing With the Dead

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Remembering / tagged Heaven, Joy, Laughter / October 23, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In loving memory of Sharon Stuart, Hal Stone and Copper Love

Tears of Sugar

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Funeral, Gratitude, Grief, Joy / September 16, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Tears of sugar
tears of salt

So beautiful or so sad
and sometimes half and half

Like stories at a wake
- Oh how she made us laugh

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Ken on MossbankMarch 23, 2025
Beautiful, that could go on a t-shirt
Nancy Fierstien on TroubledMarch 18, 2025
Keep writing, Neil. Keep writing and writing and writing…because you have so much tucked inside that is worth saying to…
Ken Christopher on Negative Space in New York CityMarch 17, 2025
Prairie boy in NYC
Anonymous on Cowboys Will Be BoysMarch 6, 2025
I love this poem make more like it
Nancy Fierstien on Redwoods in the RainFebruary 27, 2025
Love, love, love, love, love this one Neil!

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