24/7 haunted car wash

hose full of blood
& the different spray setting to choose from.
reddish brown beading on the glass 
of my green volvo. 
the smell of metal & cut skin.
crack of thunder even though 
the sky had been clean. 
2 am i come to the haunted car wash off 22
for the sense of dread. 
or maybe i come because 
i had heard the stories but had
to see for myself.
isn't that how it always is?
come enjoy all the monstrous things.
slime oozing from the walls 
of the car wash. 
i am reminded of all the haunted houses.
the spider webs that grew in 
my parent's mirrors,
the knocking inside the walls 
of all my dorm rooms,
the crying in the bath tube at night
where i live now.
sometimes i believe these places
are not haunted at all
but it is me. some sort of magnet 
in my bones that asks the horror
to come out of the everyday.
an apparition asks how old 
my car is & i don't respond
it's best to ignore them.
laughing echoes in the stone tunnel 
of the car wash as i try to find
a setting that will actually make the vehicle shine.
why a car wash anyway?
it's the only place to get clean 
this late at night.
the wax setting comes out as saliva.
at first i wasn't sure but
it reeked of being kissed for too long.
a poltergeist punches my rear view mirrors
& they break perfectly 
fractured webs.
the skeletons crawl out of my trunk
on all fours. the mummy uses his
wrappings to wipe down the windows.
there is a kindness about a haunted place.
so collaborative. 
it makes me wish i were more haunted 
& not just mildly so.
i look at my reflection in the windshield 
& my face changes
i am an old witch. 
i am bloody marry.
i am a chain being rattled.
i am the floor boards creaking
& the door slamming with no one there.
slugs come out of the hose
then bees.
i go to drive away 
& hopefully go back to sleep.
but sleep haunts me
& mock my attempts to step into it.
so tonight i went with
the haunting which is 
better than sleep. 
the trunk is full of taxidermy cats
all of which have eyes 
that follow me back & forth.