Michael Dwayne Smith


Location Apple Valley, CA
Occupation Railroad tycoon
Website http://michaeldwaynesmith.tumblr.com

About Me

I am and am not a salt-filled pancake.

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." --Pablo Picasso

"The first to apologize is the bravest; the first to forgive is the strongest; and the first to forget is the happiest." --Jacklyn Stewart

"I say, play your own way. Don’t play what the public wants. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you’re doing, even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years." --Thelonious Monk

"To say someone is a bad writer is a really stupid thing to say. There's no such thing as bad writing." --Dorothea Lasky

"Writing is like driving at night in fog. You only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." --E. L. Doctorow

"If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure." --Dan Quayle

"Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it." --Kurt Vonnegut

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." --Hunter S. Thompson

"I've never met a person I couldn't call a beauty." -- Andy Warhol

"Art is spirituality in drag." --Jennifer Yane

"Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face." --John Updike

"We're all just walking each other home." --Ram Dass

"I am a meat Popsicle." --from The Fifth Element

Why do you write?

Because I learned, like O'Hara did, why I'm not a painter.
(http://wings.buffalo.edu/english/faculty/conte/syllabi/377/Frank_O%27Hara.html)

Any favorite authors? Books?

Grief Suite - Bobbi Lurie ♣ The Real Politics of Lipstick - Mary Carroll-Hackett ♣ Venus Drive - Sam Lipsyte ♣ American Monsters - Sezin Koehler ♣ Why Did I Ever - Mary Robison ♣ Elephants in Our Bedroom - Michael Czyzniejewski ♣ Wouldn't You Like to Know - Pamela Painter ♣ America: A Prophecy - Sparrow ♣ You Never Die in Wholes - Kyle Hemmings ♣ Geek Love - Katherine Dunn ♣ Collected Poems - Frank O-Hara ♣ Damn Sure Right - Meg Pokrass ♣ Ask the Dust - John Fante ♣ Counting Myself Lucky - Edward Field ♣ Skin, Inc - Thomas Sayers Ellis ♣ The World Doesn't End - Charles Simic ♣ Black Tickets - Jayne Anne Phillips ♣ Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives - Brad Watson ♣ Airships - Barry Hannah ♣ Justine - Lawrence Durrell ♣ Selected Levis: Revised Edition - Larry Levis ♣ Big World - Mary Miller ♣ Collected Poems - Lynda Hull ♣ Refusing Heaven - Jack Gilbert ♣ Search Party - William Matthews ♣ The Rainbow Stories - William Vollmann ♣ Sleeping It Off in Rapid City - August Kleinzahler ♣ Break It Down - Lydia Davis ♣ To be continued ....

Michael Dwayne Smith's Wall

Sara Catterall – Aug 09, 2012

Thank you for the kind comment on "The Artist's Conk." I've been offline in the woods for four days, catching up now!

Meg Pokrass – Mar 23, 2012

thank you so much for your comment on "The Dirty, Happy Smile" and the idea that it is a trophy kind-of piece made me smile. I wrote it a VERY long time ago (1994). It is amazing to bring it back. big thanks.

Meg Pokrass – Feb 16, 2012

if i didn't already thank you for your comment/fave on "I Married This" I am doing so now. Thank you and still you are the only man here in drag.

Sally Houtman – Feb 15, 2012

Michael, your comments and support mean a lot. Like Meg above, I'm glad you're here. Oh, and the inclusion of 'Dwayne' in your name makes you automatically sound more dignified...or more like a serial killer...I can't remember which.

xxoo

Bill Yarrow – Feb 13, 2012

Thanks for commenting on "Babble," Michael. Appreciate it!

Joani Reese – Feb 13, 2012

Michael, Thank you for your comments about "Touch." I appreciate you.

Susan Tepper – Feb 12, 2012

Michael so happy you enjoyed Doug the snake, he needs all the friends he can get!

Mark Reep – Jan 28, 2012

Michael, thanks for reading 'Copper', and for the fave. Grace is something I think about a lot- trying for a graceful flow of events, responses, graceful transitions, etc- and it's a term that finds its way into the work too. So your comment's greatly appreciated.

James Robison – Jan 28, 2012

Sanks, Michael, for finding goodness and some zoom in "Zurich."

Meg Pokrass – Jan 28, 2012

Michael, thank you for your such kind words about Tightrope and First Long Hike. So glad you like them!

Meg Pokrass – Jan 24, 2012

thank you blond man with curls for being my friend.

FM Le – Jan 22, 2012

! Thank you much for reading my old poem and the fave. :)

David Ackley – Jan 22, 2012

Thanks, Michael. Glad you liked " Helen." I'm all for intuition, I just don't have a lot.

Barry Basden – Jan 21, 2012

Thanks, Michael, for your kind words and * for 'Waiting.'

Carol Reid – Jan 21, 2012

Thanks for the comment up on my story, Michael!

Beate Sigriddaughter – Jan 21, 2012

Oh, I wish I'd thought of the middle stanza of "New Song of Innocence and Experience" myself--it made me laugh out loud too when I first read it. However, it's just one of those sayings that floats around, having taking off from a "real" proverb, and now I used it as a diving board to get yet somewhere else.

Joani Reese – Dec 17, 2011

Michael: Thank you for your comment about my Lennon poem and welcome to Fictionaut. If your story "I Do Not Want What I Have Got" is any indication, I think I'm going to enjoy reading your work. Thanks again.

Michael Dwayne Smith – Dec 16, 2011

Thanks, Sean. And yeah, monkeys pretty much rock.

sean m. poole – Dec 16, 2011

Funny stuff. I like monkeys.

Jack Swenson – Nov 29, 2011

Michael, glad my "ode" gave you a chuckle. Thanks for the read, comment, and fav.

Jules Archer – Nov 29, 2011

Michael - thanks for your kind words and cool comments on "Cloudy..." Thanks for the fave too. Happy you liked.

Jack Swenson – Nov 22, 2011

Michael, welcome to the site and thanks for the kind words about "Europe, 1960."

Meg Pokrass – Nov 21, 2011

thanks for the kind words about "knock" i always laugh when i see this profile picture which admittedly convinced me you were my kind of silly!

Michael Dwayne Smith – Nov 10, 2011

Yes, I have been doing a lot of reading here and think that soon I may join the chorus--hopefully without being too off-key :)

Beate Sigriddaughter – Nov 04, 2011

Thanks for your comment on "Poem Containing 'So,' 'And,' 'Such.'" Hope to read something of yours here soon.

Darryl Price – Oct 05, 2011

Stay exactly the way you are. Welcome!

Michael Dwayne Smith – Sep 25, 2011

Will eventually have to come up with something more dignified, I suppose :)

Meg Pokrass – Sep 25, 2011

love your fetching hair! so glad you are here!

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