Cows – Page 3 – Neil Meili

Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Category: Cows

For Mary Who Loves Horses

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged Boundries / November 22, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I have ridden the fence line
without believing in fences

I have been one with the movement of horse
the strength and speed of horse
the grace of horse and the soul of horse

I have been one with the wind
and the high rolling hills
and the sky

I have stepped down
with my hands filled with staples and pliers

For the welfare of cattle and neighbours
who still have need of believing
in fences

Herding Poems

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Poems about Poetry, Ranch Life / November 19, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Herding Poems
(for Patricia)

My father had sons
to help him herd the cows

I have a daughter
to help me herd the poems

He had ten thousand acres
we have all the acres of the world

His won ribbons at the feeder show
ours, when entered, won some prizes too

He would stand for hours
to watch them feeding and grown fat

I sometimes get out a book and do just that

All They Survey

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Appreciation, Pride / November 18, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My father
would stand for hours
just looking at his cows

Like God leaning
on a rail fence in heaven
pleased with his creation

Too Crowded

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Family, Ranch Life, Travel / tagged Migration / November 6, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My folks took some time off in the sixties from their Saskatchewan ranching and traveled down through South Texas
One day they stopped to talk to an old cowboy sittin and a wittlin on a rickety ranch porch
When he found out where they were from he said "Say - do you know a man up there by the name of Bill Prior?"
They said "Yes - he's an old bachelor who lives up past our north pasture, ,why do you ask?"
"Well" he said, "about 1928 Bill and I are out lookin for some strays when we see another rider coming over the furthest hill"

Bill says to me "It's getting too damn crowded down here, I'm heading for Canada"
"He turned his horse North and I haven't seen him since"

2 Replies

I Never Saw My Mother on Horseback

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life, Remembering / November 5, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I understand that
she used to ride to school
but she was little and it was a farm
and somehow that didn't seem to count

When she was about 75 she told me about going with Dad to the far end of the ranch on a beautiful day a long time ago to help round up some strays

She said that she liked it a lot
and couldn't remember why she didn't do it more

The Question

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships, Remembering / November 3, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

There's Dad sitting
by the after branding fire
with some after branding beers

And we get to talking
heart to heart
of trails together and apart

And of the things we saw
which ones brought us awe

Buffalo Chips

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Manure, Nostalgia, Ranch Life / tagged Childhood, Play / October 3, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Lily pads floating
on the sea of prairie grass

Heat for the tepees
or the homesteader's cabin

Nothing wasted in the West

And every boy knew
that a good sharp stick or a pointy-toed shoe
would let you know
if one was just right, or still a little too new

And I'm here to tell you, that compared to a good dry chip
meeting a West wind's invitation
a Frisbee is a weak and poor, plastic imitation

Smells of the Corrals

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Manure, Ranch Life / tagged Horses / October 1, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Horses don’t smell like cows
except when your nose is full
of acrid smoke at branding time

Disinfectant
from the pail for sloshing on the bag
after their prairie oysters are shucked
and later them oysters on the open fire

Burning
from the wire-saw freeing the ingrown horn

Dung flung
and dung hung on boots and belt and butt
from the calf that beat you at ‘who throws who’

1 Reply

Motherin’ Up

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cowboy Poetry, Cows, Family, Farm, Ranch Life, Relationships / tagged Coping, Grief / September 14, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Sometimes you lose a cow
sometimes you lose a calf
You wrap the orphan
in the dead calf's skin
and the mother takes her in
like kin
Gold enough there for a country song
It's a hurtin song - you can sing along
About true love died and true love gone
and foolin yourself just long enough
to keep on keeping on

Peace on the Prairie

Audio Recordings, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Ranch Life / September 13, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

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Ken Christopher on War WoundsNovember 12, 2024
So true, the barbed wire 👍🏼
Niece Karen on Quaking in the AtticOctober 23, 2024
Perfect metaphor - you captured me perfectly!
Ken Christopher on God is Getting OnOctober 22, 2024
Anger contained in love
Murray on Feels of the Farm – FlaxOctober 15, 2024
Now that's vintage knowledge Neil!!!! Hope you're feeling much better. Your poem would suggest you are!!
Ken Christopher on Fowl SupperSeptember 22, 2024
Wonderful poem Neil

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