Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Migration

Horizons Aren’t Equal Out Here

Audio Recordings, Farm, News, Ranch Life, Travel / tagged Migration, Pioneers / February 4, 2025 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The East is fine
for color on the way to the barn
but by the time the chores are done it's gone

The rest of the day we watch the West

That's where the weather comes from

That's the direction the grandfathers faced
when they got this far and found
what they were looking for
or gave up
unhitched the horses
and sat down to watch the sun set

February 2025 update. Storms sometimes also come from the South.

Blind

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Autumn, Birds, Fall, Hunting, Migration / October 10, 2024 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Lying on our backs in shallow graves
we've dug in pre-dawn frozen dirt

Golden straw pulled over us
to not be seen by Canada's geese
stopping for breakfast going to Texas

Waiting less time than it seems
to hear the honking and leap up
to exact our tithes on the grain
we and the gods all year provided

A Few Remaining Relatives

Audio Recordings / tagged Aging, Birds, Connection, Migration / December 11, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Spoke to Joy in Saskatchewan today
She informs me that she is
relatively healthy, relatively mobile
and relatively happy

That the sunrises and sunsets
are much like they have always been
and stopping by our lake on their way south
the largest flock of swans she's ever seen

Happy Hour

Audio Recordings, Flight, Travel / tagged Butterflies, Humor, Migration / November 18, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

All the monarchs pollen-drunk
are weaving their way to Mexico
with a final teasing loop or two
taunting that I can't come too

Little do their little brains know
That American and Southwest
fly direct from Austin now
and I can be a week
of margaritas awaiting their arrival

Monarchs All A Flutter

Audio Recordings, Nature, Travel / tagged Butterflies, Migration / November 17, 2023 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I wonder what that papillon is on
Reeling from too many sips
of purple flower wine

I feel fine, I feel fine

but does anyone here know
the way to Mexico

Ten Generations of Butterflies

Audio Recordings, Family, Farm, Nature / tagged Migration / November 14, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It is mid November
and there are Monarchs
everywhere
at our new Texas home

It takes five generations
each way for them to get
from Mexico to Canada
and back

(Stan said so, and he
would know)

About sixty years ago
we lived for a year or two
at my grandfather's farm

He had a garden
A Canadian national treasure
(The newspapers all said so)

Ten thousand trees planted
on the bald-assed prairie
rich with fruit and flowers
no one else would even test
that far north and west

I watch generation nine or ten
lightly and unerringly
almost home again

and feel his DNA
happily spinning
in every cell

1 Reply

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

Austin 2020

Nature, Travel / tagged Covid19, Migration, Spring, Texas / April 27, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It is April in Austin
Corona virus reigns
and Monarch butterflies return
You may choose to which
you will bend a knee

Photo Credit M. Dorsey Cartwright

Northern Urge

Haiku, Nature, Travel / tagged Migration / March 14, 2020 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Butterflies drop by
Canada in their compass
I will follow soon

Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash

Lonely Bones

Uncategorized / tagged Death, Family, Migration / October 1, 2019 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

My father lies in a prairie town his father in Brazil his father in Switzerland If home is built bone on bone where will I pile mine

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Nancy Fierstien on Redwoods in the RainFebruary 27, 2025
Love, love, love, love, love this one Neil!
Neil on Dog YearsFebruary 22, 2025
Thanks Kim, Sometimes the poems seem to know. Sorry for your loss, Neil
Ken Christopher on Buddy TrainingFebruary 19, 2025
Yep, tough love
Kimberly Heinrich on Dog YearsFebruary 18, 2025
You could not possibly have known that today was the day that I had to have my beloved dog euthanized.…
Barbara Joy Bruce on FebruaryFebruary 13, 2025
love it! Thanks, Neil!

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