Vic Pickup

Fiesta

You cannot say a thing to upset me
You cannot say a thing to upset me.
You must behave at all times
in public, and otherwise
it’s anyone’s guess.

But it goes on.
It goes on.
We have sheathed the dream
of all these years and
with a word, or five
we strip it

beat it like a black
pinata
and watch its fruit split drop
fall in fermented clods
around our feet

berry slop
bleeds into the soles
of your white trainers,
Fuses the gaps between my toes.

Don’t you feel better?
Don’t you feel better?

I anoint my pulse points
with the scent of
despicable righteous,
fill up my bath waters with
blood and muck and more
besides, I will never be clean.

We will never be clean again.

Vic said this about her poem:

A verse from a popular Benson Boone song stuck in my head: ‘When I look at you / And when you look at me / Oh there's still two lovers / So who the hell are we?’. The idea for ‘Fiesta’ is based on the private chaos that can occur in even the closest relationship. The pinata analogy and the repetition of questioning is intended to highlight how juvenile behaviours can overcome even the deepest affection. This poem presents one heated carnival of emotions, and references the debris it leaves behind.