I didn't see him until it was too late

It all became surreal
assembling the future with screws
holding metal in flesh
dangling
fasteners
using allen keys
phillips heads screwdrivers
removing stains with nail polish remover
from cheap pink plastic bottles
with cotton swaps melting
vacuum cleaners on the ceiling

weeks
and months catch up with me

wanting interest rates
dining dates
spinning white plates on sticks
climbing bent aluminium ladders
caked in mud
to a strong branch
on a pine tree
just above the roosters cage crowing
raining fragrant needles of tree sap

Mr.Pickles is king of the backyard
green,black,white speckled
half a red gobbler missing from fights
and winning
just like Chanticleer
wakes the morning sun

backing down the driveway
with huge potholes
briar rose bush brushing the car
as if to say goodbye one last time
before departing on the grey highway
yellow lines leading into a irrigation ditch

broad magnolia trees
with large white blooms
bursting out of pods
give thanks and nods
on occasion an applaud

the cold in the coming days
seeps into my bones
brittle
there are not even cracked sidewalks where i go
nor the burning motors care
if they eat flesh
oil
blood
tear at blue veins
bursting along the concrete
cut up the lane
not across roads
looking for sympathy
attention

i'd betray myself in the blink of an eye
brown today
green tomorrow
lay me out on a slab of polished steel
tagged
bagged
dragged off the road to the gurney
with fitted sheets
made of black plastic
easy to clean

that's what they fear

but if i outlast the care in the world

will i fear for myself
or embrace it
as a brother
beginning to fall
for walking barefoot
on blades
sharp
pointed upwards
will surly send us to the prayer box
or to party with the sinners

sign me up
for my horns already came in