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Car Wash
1
I want my daughter’s voice
without the background
hiss of hoses.
Her I love yous
like the earth-flash
reflection of passing birds
across a queue of dirty windscreens.
2
Wake up with the first
blast and wait for the engines.
Repeat the words Car Wash
using different accents
until my morning
boner wilts.
3
The man from Environmental Health
gave us monitoring equipment.
He said he lived
in a peaceful part of town.
When he talked down to me I stared
at his tie, ‘Mate, that’s a nice tie,’ I said. ‘Whew!
That’s a fucking really nice fucking tie, man!’
4
Our daughter quietly
watches her parents
disassembling,
searching for glue.
I tell my wife I think we’re coasting and we need
help.
Over her left shoulder
hooded figures count money
by the car wash gates, water
spraying through sunbeams,
hopeless sunbeams.
5
‘Hey you! White boy prick! Why you
complain? You want us to come see you tonight?
Ha ha ha! We come see you and give you something...
Come over here, we talk about water. Look,
everybody love water. Everybody love a clean car!’
6
At night I stand outside, opposite
their locked gate, praying to evil magicians.
I talk to the dark wound above
these silent flats, turn my hands
into guns and shoot the blue rags they leave
to dry overnight
along the rusted spikes.
Snatch them!
Squeeze them in their sleep.
O Lucifer!
O Crowley!!
O Daily Mail!!!
7
She calls me dramatic.
I know she’s right; it is only a car wash.
This prison cell can also be a bedroom.
This voice
something we can dance to.
8
Do they play cards in that caravan?
The caravan where they wait
on slow days.
Days of rain and peace.
I like to picture them playing cards.
Stopping when they think
they hear a car, footsteps, God’s
whiny voice on the radio.
9
I tell my friend not to blow
kisses at the car-wash men.
She ignores me,
giggling.
I don’t think they know
or care
that she used to be a man.
They stand very still and watch us
catching
snowflakes with our tongues.
10
I have seen too many
silent couples
smoking on the pavement
waiting for the boss
to give the sign their vehicle is clean
so they can go
wherever it is silent couples go
on Saturday afternoons
in stupid England.
11
I haven’t been
stabbed yet
Mum.
12
Sorry Dad,
I...
