Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine # 14

The Wake-Up Call You never know exactly when it comes, all unannounced, tiptoeing in the dark, not prey to any secondary whims, explosion waiting for the fatal spark...

You never see the tell-tale signs, the light behind the curtained window, or the bird almost as if captured in mid-flight, hinting intimations of discord...

You never hear the true but distant warning, uttered in a monotone, or shouted out like roosters crowing of a golden morning, message in a code you cannot uncreate...

You never feel the telling shiver that oh so silently communicates, that rips from living's book its cryptic cover, erasing all those once important dates...

You never know or see or hear or feel the final message pulsing everywhere you are...awake or deep in dream. Yet, still you carry on, awaiting final ice or fire....

Dan Pettee Dan Pettee, a native New Englander, operates a freelance writing business in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's had poems published in Chicago Review, Texas Review, The Old Red Kimono, and others.