Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

Skip to content

Home
Contact
Neil’s Books
Poems
Kind Words
A Neil a Day Poems

Tag Archives: Gratitude

The Dead Are Good Tippers

Audio Recordings / tagged Care, Death, Gratitude / May 19, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The hospice nurse
may change the bed
and think the dead are dead

Hurry home to feed the kids
and mend the things to mend

But if they feel a debt doth pend
she'll find out in the end

Deer Gone

Audio Recordings, Ranch Life / tagged Alcohol, Death, Disconnection, Extinction, First Nations, Gratitude, Guns, Hunting, Ignorance / January 29, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

A tough shot, 600 yards at least, running
left to right in the open sights of the 303
Aim to the top of the third jump ahead, move
the gun in a smooth arc and squeeze slow

It was a kill
I saw it as great skill
a source of blood-fed pride
and the deer… well it just died

The first nations used to see it as a kind of
revolving door, the spirit of the animal would
come back soon enough in another body if you used
the one he had given up to you with gratitude

There are not many deer in these parts anymore
Wonder if they’re trapped waiting for gratitude
the natives lost in Fort Whoop-Up whiskey

and we never knew

How Not To Be A Turkey On Thanksgiving Day

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth / tagged Gratitude, Thanksgiving / November 23, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

How do you get to Carnegie Hall
Practice Practice Practice

So sip each morn
and even on plentitude

And on the day of gratitude
show up less loud and crude

Thanksgiving Poem: How-to

Audio Recordings, Nature, Poems about Poetry / tagged Art & Artists, Autumn, Fall, Gratitude, Holiday, Thanksgiving / October 9, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Don’t write right away, but soon.
Watch the leaves and the light fully
Connect – allow – relax – delight.
Too quick is a tourist in a selfie,
Taj Mahal untended over left shoulder.
Wait too long and the phone will ring

Write a few hundred poems before – good and bad,
so fear of the water doesn’t keep you on shore
And how about a title throwing two shadows
(as Mary Oliver encourages)
an easy one here with movement and the season

Do not say leaves look toward the sun, an object,
but towards the rising of the sun, an event
one more evocative of motion

Note the angle of the sun,
so low on the horizon that is shines upwards
into the twisting, twirling, falling leaves,
as they lift at times in slightly gusting breeze

If pirouetting is what you see, bring the ballet in

And gratitude, of course, and on what day

Bemused

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry, Travel / tagged Art & Artists, Gratitude / September 17, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It is never wise to be
at all ungrateful to your muse

Though times she picks to bring her gifts
are ones few of us would choose

She does live on a mountain in Greece
while I'm scribbling in Texas at two AM
She's bright and alert and off to work
because it's nine in the morning to her

Long Hot Saskatchewan Summer Haiku 8

Audio Recordings, Farm, Haiku, Nature, Ranch Life / tagged Gratitude, Nourishment, Pride, Relief / July 29, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Okay Now – Mostly

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Loss, Mourning, Sadness / June 7, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I think I'm okay now
when with every thought of you

Gratitude for the years
gets there before the tears

Mostly

Dove lupine in Sharon’s San Marcos garden

Morning Gratitudes

Audio Recordings, Nature / tagged Beauty, Gratitude, Snow, Winter / February 4, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

After my morning gratitudes
look out the window
to great flakes
softling to the ground

Always room for one more

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

The Gift Horse

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Gratitude / May 18, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It is not so simple

If you question every action
you will find forces pull in other directions

If you look in the mouth of the horse
not all teeth will be straight
and many may have been grinding
for some time

It is more likely
that happiness will be found
by looking deep in the mouth of the adage

Post navigation

← Older posts

Search

Neil’s Latest Book Available in Paperback and Large Print Edition though Amazon worldwide

Social

View zencowboypoet’s profile on Facebook
View @meilineil’s profile on Twitter
View neilmeili’s profile on Instagram

Want More Poetry? Sign Up Here.

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

Audio Recordings
Cattle
Cowboy Poetry
Cows
Environment
Family
Farm
Flight
Haiku
Limerick
Manure
Nature
News
Nostalgia
Personal Growth
Pilots
Poems about Poetry
Ranch Life
Relationships
Remembering
String Too Short To Save
Travel
Uncategorized

Tags

Aboriginal Aging Alcohol Art Art & Artists Autumn Beauty Birds Childhood Children Connection Covid19 Death Dogs Dreams Faith Family Farm Fear First Nations Friendship Gratitude Greece Grief Hope Horses Humor Love Mother Music Nature Poetry Politics Prairie Psychology Ranch Life Regret Religion sensuality Solitude Spring Voice Dialogue War Winter Wisdom

©2015 Neil Meili. All Right Reserved.

Theme Designed By ThemeVan | Powered by WordPress

Loading Comments...

Write a Comment...

Email

Name

Website