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

The Elevator

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / August 16, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
Seed filled erection
proud on the prairie
when the west was young
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The Girl From Away

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged Attraction, Love, sensuality, Youth / August 15, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
I was sixteen, it was summer

Hauling wheat to town in the 3-ton Chevy
A quart of store-bought buttermilk
on the seat for the trip back to the ranch

There was a girl, my age and beautiful
visiting in the last house on the left

Sometimes she would be 
on the street or in the yard

The truck was new and powerful
I was farm boy healthy, strong

We were hitting on all cylinders

It was warm, the window was open
I was in love, the butter milk was cold
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Waterfront

Audio Recordings / tagged Birds, Cost, Housing, Location / August 14, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
In the city you pay
a million for
al lot along the shore

Where the alkali flats
meet Wood River's lacks
of so much as a single tree
the mud hen builds for free
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Holding Up the Line

Audio Recordings, Farm, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / August 13, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
Barista, barista, if only you knew
what I'd like to order from you

Barista, barista
please, if you please 
cold coffee in a Mason jar
like Momma sent to the fields
at harvest and at haying time

That much sugar
and that much cream
and no one wiped the lip
when they passed it round

Barista, barista
there's nothing I see
on that long fancy menu for me

I guess
I just came in to smell the coffee
1 Reply

Coyote Eyes

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Connection, Dogs, Music / August 12, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
It is Austin
so a poet is running for mayor

We stop by a backyard party
in our neighbourhood to meet
greet and hopefully support her

It is Austin
so there is an eight piece band
The Bob Katz and they're very good

A dog with coyote eyes
comes up and wants to be my friend
so I make up
a Coyote Eyes, Coyote Eyes song
and sing it to her while the band
lights up Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire

and she looks up at me with thosse coyote eyes
and we are very much in love
but I am late for a poetry reading
at the English Café and have to leave
so she goes and sits by another man
She is looking up at him with those coyote eyes
I think she is trying to tell him
about the song
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It Is Enough

Audio Recordings, Family, Nature, Poems about Poetry / tagged Aging, Gratitude, Struggle / August 11, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
It is enough 
that the baby smiles
even if it's only gas

It is enough
to know that God exists 
though it take a lifetime
and a minute more

It is enough
that the dog loves you
at the end of a day filled
with cats

It is enough 
that the rainbow
can arch your back
straight again

It is enough
to watch a sunset

It is enough
that leaves fall like butterflies

It is enough 
that joy exists, even when
others have it all

It is enoughgh
that the other knee feels
fine

It is enough 
that in dreams you can 
still fly

It is enough
that poetry is in the bible
too

It is enough
that gifts come
in the size of gratitude
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Reincarnation by Cloud

Audio Recordings / August 10, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
Does the rain falling on us now
remember the palmed oasis
the emerald lake of the Rockies
the laughing over small stones

Hand in hand we stand
faces upward, wet with hope

Photo credit Joyce (Joy) Silzer. Prairie sky just outside Mossbank, Saskatchewan, one of the author’s home towns.

1 Reply

Reincarnation by Loon

Audio Recordings, Remembering / tagged Birds / August 9, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
Now there's a sound
you could take anywhere
and remember
when you returned
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The Joy of the Loon

Audio Recordings, Haiku / tagged Birds, Music, Water / August 8, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
The joy of the loon
is in sadness of his song
Candle Lake at dawn
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The Cry of the Loon

Audio Recordings, Haiku / tagged Birds, Water / August 7, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
The cry of the loon
shatters the glass of the lake
V shard follows her
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  1. Sandi Hebley on Holding Up the LineAugust 13, 2026

    Awwww!

  2. Joy on Reincarnation by CloudAugust 10, 2026

    Watching clouds move across the sky, The way they did years ago, Growing up on the prarie, watching sky and…

  3. Sandi Hebley on Red-Winged BlackbirdAugust 3, 2026

    This is a good one!

  4. Sandi Hebley on The Man in the Desert RemembersJuly 21, 2026

    Wow!

  5. JM on The Man in the Desert RemembersJuly 21, 2026

    This one really hit home Thank you

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