I Wish I'd Written This

It Is Enough

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 enough
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

– Neil Meili
from "Enough Poetry and a little more..." 

I featured Neil here a few years ago, with one of his wonderful environmental poems – wonderful in its restraint, while simultaneously packing a mighty punch.

He and his partner became my dear friends when I stayed with them on a poetry visit to Austin, Texas in 2006. We've kept in touch.

They had occasion to visit Australia in 2016, and I was able to spend a few days with them, and also take this photo of Neil. A treasured time – and, as in all the best friendships, it was as if there had been no gap between get-togethers.

You can tell from the photo that it was a happy reunion! He and I even spent one afternoon sitting on a verandah overlooking a lake surrounded by trees, writing poems together.

Neil self-publishes chapbooks more-or-less annually (sometimes twice a year). He himself does all the physical production of them, which is simple and attractive. I'm privileged to be on his mailing list. I received the latest – pictured here – two days ago. And there I found this wonderful poem I've just shared with you, as well as lots of other treats.

That's twice I've said "wonderful" about his poetry. This poem embodies the original meaning of the word: "full of wonder". So do many of his others. And to me all Neil's poetry is also to be wondered at, for his mastery of a simplicity in language that can also be complex in meaning and often profound.

He excels, too, at short, sometimes aphoristic verse such as:

NAH!

Senior moment mostly
forgetting that I am one

or:

PUTIN ON THE RITZ

Communism is dead
the day the leader
gets two crusts of bread

(He calls such pieces "string too short to save".)

A long-time resident of Texas, he also returns often to his native Canada, as well as travelling to other countries. There are references to both Canada and Texas in his poetry, and also to some of those other countries. His partner, Dorsey Cartwright, is a psychotherapist who sometimes presents self-development courses with a psychological basis, specialising in relationships, all over the world. Neil takes a close interest in her work (as she does in his poetry) and many of their travels are associated with this work. That's how they happened to be in Australia in 2016, and one of their venues was close enough to my home for me to go and visit with them. Here's another pic I took, of the two of them.

Neil has long been active in spoken word poetry in both Austin, Texas and Edmonton, Canada, and is generous in his encouragement of other poets.

On his website, where you can read more of his poetry, he describes himself as "Zen cowboy poet & freelance philosopher". He does retain an air of the outdoorsy, adventurous fellow he has often been during his life. Look a little closer and you discover he is also a polished sophisticate, an erudite art-lover, and above all a kind, caring, sensitive person. All these facets are expressed in his poems, along with his wit and sense of fun.

Material shared in 'I Wish I'd Written This' is presented for study and review. Poems, photos and other writings remain the property of the copyright owners, usually their authors.

I Wish I'd Written This

Revenge of the Trees

by Neil Meili

There will come a time - maybe soon

When you have cut down and burned
so many of us that we will no longer
be able to give enough of our gift
to burn any more

Not nearly enough for combustion
in internal combustion engines
of chainsaws and D-9 Cats

It is true you will still have
your double bitted axe
and cross cut saw

but there may be a problem
with the breath

Neil Meili is a Canadian who has now lived a long time in Austin, Texas — though he still makes frequent visits back home too. He and his partner, Dorsey Cartwright, a psychotherapist, kindly put me up when I visited Austin in 2006 for the (annual) International Poetry Festival. They instantly became family.

Thom the World Poet, who many years ago initiated the cafe poetry scene in Austin, which happens at various venues most nights of the week, told me that Neil was one of the poets who supported and encouraged this endeavour. ‘He was always there,’ said Thom.

A man of many parts, in his time Neil has been a cowboy and a pilot, and more recently a town planning consultant. Often he also works with Dorsey when she presents workshops in a type of therapy called Voice Dialogue, which addresses the many selves we have within us. He has written poems based on Voice Dialogue. This link leads to some of these, and some by another poet, in a viewable or down-loadable pdf.

His poems are deceptively simple and straightforward. They say what they have to say, and then stop. It is when they linger in the mind long afterwards that you begin to realise their depth and delicacy. The wry understatement of Revenge of the Trees is typical too.

He publishes them in chapbooks via New Texas Press. Poems from some of the earlier volumes appear on his website and are still listed on Amazon, but he admits the website needs considerable updating and that he has not made arrangements to sell the more recent volumes online. Pity! I think he just gets better and better. Here’s a recent piece I love:

Edmonton - Late September

The leaves are dancing down the street

Leaves like the thousand children
that I never had with you

A skip, a dash, a lovely pirouette

then past, and gone

Poems and photos used in ‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remain the property of the copyright holders (usually their authors).