![Once a week, once a week
they came from all around, 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](https://i0.wp.com/www.neilmeili.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Train-Day.jpg?resize=600%2C600)
Train Day
![Once a week, once a week
they came from all around, 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](https://i0.wp.com/www.neilmeili.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Train-Day.jpg?resize=600%2C600)
BACK TO SASKATCHEWAN
After mountains piled on mountains
trees crowding trees and
sense sating cities
a cleansing fast of horizon
THE JOY OF THE LOON
The joy of the loon
Is in the sadness of his song
Candle lake at dawn
BREATHING IN WINTER
In Saskatchewan in winter
your breath is certainly plain to see
And while I don’t actually believe the story
that you can warm it in a frying pan
and hear all the words again
I can’t help thinking how nice it would be
if I could just inhale really, really hard
And get back that awful dumb thing
I said to you this morning
JEANNE MARIE WRITES A NEW BOOK
When it rains in Biggar Saskatchewan
a bigger battle begins
Grass and grain sucking straws
to the slurping point
The sun trying as always to extract
far more than its fair tithe
Muddy waters swirling down drains
of gopher and badger holes
Settling through hollows of buffalo wallows
where the buffalo no longer roam
Remainders feeding underground streams
and deep raging rivers
If I put my feet or my ear to the ground
I can almost understand her last poem
Almost hear the next one
COURVAL
Small town smaller
reference points gone
inside compass wobbles
CANDLE LAKE
Northern Dawn
Soft Haiku Sky
Seven Loons Float By