We were in a local pub in Cornwall.
Local is the most important word in that sentence.
Harriet’s family and I were playing snooker.
I didn’t even know I could play snooker
And in fact, I didn’t know how to play snooker
None of us did.
But we were hitting the white ball
With the cue
And trying to pocket the other colours.
A man with Celtic tribal tattoos
Who smelt like he had been washing
Inside the ale barrels
Put fifty pence on the table
Was he paying to watch us play?
Were we inadvertently busking?
Anyway, I took my shot and missed
All the balls but the black
Which meant the game was over.
We began setting up again
The man came over
‘Play us?’
He said in this deep pig grunt
‘No’ I said.
I put the triangle on the table
And began to put the balls
Inside it.
‘No, do it like this’
And he turned the triangle
The correct way up.
He then proceeded
To put all the balls in the triangle
And was lecturing me
On how to put the balls in the triangle.
My fist was hot and my mouth was becoming dry
Everything was clenching up,
The ubiquitous pub din was silent now.
I picked up one of the red balls outside of the triangle
And hit him round the face
He fell onto the table and I picked his long hair up
It was greasy brown to hold
I lifted it back
And pushed his face into the green.
Wait
Sorry, this did not happen.
Sorry, yes I am an unreliable narrator
But this is ridiculous
There should be some truth in poetry,
That’s what separates it from fiction
Otherwise, I could be writing fancy novels
I could turn the cues into sabers and enter a duel to the death
No, I don’t think you should lie (very much) in poetry.
Oh god, I think I’ve ruined this poem;
Have I ruined this poem?
I suppose I should see it through.
What I did do
Was look at Harriet’s little sister
Who was looking at me with wide brown eyes
And I looked at Harriet’s mother
And she was standing with her arms crossed
I looked at Harriet
And she had her arms crossed
And was looking with wide eyes that were sapphire blue
I think all of them were expecting me
To see red.
I picked up the yellow ball
And placed it into the triangle
‘You can play after us’
I looked at him
And I thought about what I was going to do.
He looked away
And walked back to the bar
Harriet came over,
‘I thought you were going to hit him.’
‘I thought so too’.
