Good Luck for C. McD. by Michael Dwayne Smith

The only advice worth taking is of course

the advice in this poem. Two urges and two

stories to tell here. When first I began in

earnest with poetry, I asked any published

willing soul to read and react to my work.

It shook out this way: those who were eager

tended to be those whose work I admired

less, and they mostly said poems should be

more like their own; those who deflected

or refused or ignored were those whose work

was of the higher order. If they said anything,

it was Keep Writing & Good Luck. These

poets never pointed to their accomplishment

or referred to themselves in third person,

nor did they even imply looking outside

myself for answers to any question. But I’m

only human and still sometimes ask. I save

myself by only asking Catfish now, who is

a living legend, and each time he sees my

poems he only ever says, Good luck, amigo!

Michael Dwayne Smith lives near a Mojave Desert ghost town with his family and rescued animals. His most recent book isRoadside Epiphanies (Cholla Needles Press, 2017). Nominated multiple times for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, his work haunts many literary houses--including The Cortland Review, New World Writing, Star 82 Review, Blue Fifth Review, Skidrow Penthouse, Word Riot, Rat's Ass Review, Gravel, San Pedro River Review--and has been widely anthologized. When not writing or teaching, he edits Mojave River Press & Review.