The Lion Handler's Advice to a Young Melanie Griffith

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THE LION HANDLER'S ADVICE TO A YOUNG MELANIE GRIFFITH
by REBECCA WIGMORE

Click the pink circle to advance. Use backspace to retread.

This poem is published in hard copy format in Lives Beyond Us: Poems and Essays on the Film Reality of Animals.

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[[Poem|1]]\n[[Commentary]]\n<div style="padding-top: 30px;">\n<span style="font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: normal;">Sidekick Play-Poems use the Twine engine and Sugarcube story format.</span></div>

There's something decidedly <i>Lolita</i>-ish about Rebecca Wigmore's poem for <i>Lives Beyond Us</i>. I imagine hot summer days on Tippi Hedren's estate, as teenage Melanie lounged with her mother's deadly pet lion. The end of the poem signals a loss of innocence, of the fantasy coming to an end, just as Narnia did for the Pevensie children. And indeed, Neil's tenure with the humans did indeed come to an end, as Hedren woke up, realising: “ We were stupid beyond belief to have that lion in our house. ”\n\n<span class="brightlink">[[Return to poem|previous()]]</span>\n<a class="set2" data-passage="Start">Return to front page</a>

You want to share a bed, fine. <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>I get the appeal,\nthat Serengeti jerk and sweat, the mystery of his sleep.\n\n\n<a data-passage="2"><div id="circle"></div></a><<endrelace>>\n\n\n

<span style="color:#ff0066;">THE LION HANDLER'S ADVICE TO A YOUNG MELANIE GRIFFITH</span>\n<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">by REBECCA WIGMORE</span>\n\nClick the pink circle to advance. Use backspace to retread.\n<a data-passage="1"><div id="circle"></div></a>\n<span style="font-size: 0.9em;">\nThis poem is published in hard copy format in <a class="set2" href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/sidekickbooks.com/livesbeyondus.php"><i>Lives Beyond Us: Poems and Essays on the Film Reality of Animals</i>.</a></span>\n\n<span class="fade" style="width:auto;"><a href="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/livesbeyondus.php"><img class="shadowed" style="margin-left: 30px;" src="http://www.sidekickbooks.com/images/livesbeyondus.jpg"></a></span>

When you start spotting the mattress, come cry to me; <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>\ntry to retain eye contact.\n<<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>\nThat blood is my business. <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>I gotta tell you,\nonce he owns something, all is lost.\n<<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>\nBut we’re all better as hopeful little renters.\n\n\n<a data-passage="4"><div id="circle"></div></a><<endrelace>><<endrelace>><<endrelace>><<endrelace>>

We can never really know if our animals love us. \n<<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>All we can do is crush head into mane,<<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>\n\nthat sexy attic, <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>and wear his paw as our heaviest hat. <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>\nLet me know when you want to swim with him\n\nin your mother’s pool.<<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">> I can watch\nfor signs of cupidity, <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">> entitlement.\n\n\n<a data-passage="3"><div id="circle"></div></a><<endrelace>><<endrelace>><<endrelace>><<endrelace>><<endrelace>><<endrelace>>

We can never really know if our animals love us. <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>\nHere’s a list of things you’re too old for:<<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>\nNarnia,<<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">> everything.\n\n<<endrelace>><<endrelace>><<endrelace>>

He don’t even know that you all call him Neil.\n<<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>And yet who’s spooning your mom’s soft, blonde head\n\nas she scans the trades for threats? <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>That’s \nmy point babe – <<relace "<div id=\s"circle\s"></div>">>you grow into these things.\n\n\n<a data-passage="5"><div id="circle"></div></a><<endrelace>><<endrelace>><<endrelace>>

The Lion Handler's Advice to a Young Melanie Griffith

Rebecca Wigmore

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