Yeah LISP has major issues of "that's neat, what happens when you try IO". Anything from drawing on the screen, connecting to a socket, or even nonterminal keyboard input ends up being such a pain.
Not talking about pico as i don't have experience with it, but not sure what you mean in relation to something like common lisp or racket? Those things you mention are trivial in both. I know racket is more scheme than lisp.