Will the Real Elliot Please Stand Up?
AKA: Think Pink
“What part of France are the lions from?” my husband, Joe, asked.
We were sitting in our wrought iron lawn chairs having breakfast in the yard. Our neighbor’s lawnmower droned as I explained The Shameless Lions Writing Circle to him, how forty-eight lions were being adopted by writers from the group. Visual artists had already created each lion’s individual looks, now writers were adding their two cents – or forty-eight words in this case.
By the time I made my way over to see the Shameless Lions at the invitation of Bonnie and her adopted lion Roary (who has his own blog) there was only one lion still up for adoption. It was pink. I was there to look, wasn’t planning to adopt. But not long after I saw the last pink lion, a lion poem began to take shape. I named the lion Elliot and dubbed him a poet, after my late poet friend, Elliot, who liked to wear a purple beret and a daisy behind his ear. “What would Elliot say if he had a street corner in Paris to shout poetry from,” I wondered as I wrote my forty-eight word writing circle entry fee.
“But Elliot the pink lion was claimed by someone else before I had chance to,” I told Joe.
“Don’t you have a sidebar category for all things pink?” he asked, knowing that pink was my new mid-life crisis color.
“No, but maybe I should start one,” I answered in between sips of tea.
But the last lion that I named Elliot (whose real owner gave him the name Johnny Cash) wasn’t the last. Less than twenty-four hours after my lion adoption fell through, I heard from Seamus the Shameless Lion Circle’s main tamer. A lion had been relinquished. One of the writers who felt the timing wasn’t right to take on an adoption wanted Seamus to offer her lion to me. Could it be Elliot? 
Hmmmm.
A few minutes later, another message from Seamus came announcing that the available lion was PINK!
“I’ll be right over to sign the paperwork,” I emailed him. It seemed that Elliot was determined to have a voice.
Meanwhile, back in the yard the birds were chirping and the pot of tea had gone cold. I finished telling Joe the story and he said, “Well, If you find out where in France the lions are exhibited, maybe we can visit yours someday,”
“Yes, and I’ll put a purple beret on his head, like the one that my friend Elliot used to wear,” I answered.
Post Notes: More about Elliot the pink lion, including the poem, below and HERE. Visit the gallery of lions and the writings they inspired HERE.
June 17th, 2007 10:45 pm
Fate has a funny way of getting it right every time. Nice poem from Elliot the pink lion.
Michele sent me,
Mike
June 17th, 2007 11:24 pm
How cool. That turned out well!
June 17th, 2007 11:37 pm
A pink lion. OF COURSE you had to have him. He will go along with your pink pool float and those flip-flops… perhaps a pink peony or pink cotton candy would be nice too! Such a sweet lion… does he have a sweet tooth?
June 18th, 2007 2:13 am
Your friend sounds like he was a very lovable man….and sourly missed. I am happy that you were able to get a lion.
I am sure that the lady who had to give him up will enjoy knowing that the lion is doing well. I am wondering what all the words on Elliot say.
June 18th, 2007 5:27 am
I LOVE this project, Colleen. I went to check it out and looked at all the Lions pictures—taken and not takeb…And there were still about 7 available, at that point. I would love to have adopted a Lion, but not being a poet it seemed unfair….But the whole idea of it is so very very appealing, isn’t it? I’m so happy that you got your Pink Lion! Congratulations!
June 18th, 2007 8:33 am
I took French in high school. I can read the word at the head. It says Head, so I imagine the rest are the body parts, which aren’t very poetic but at least they are WORDS. Last night I was looking at some of the lions closer (clicked on the big version) and discovered that the first pink lion is made of money. I guess his owner knew it because she named him Johnny CASH. The second pink lion is more fitting for Elliot. He had a lot of body issues, pain, and was on several kinds of meds. He was often hard to get along with, so not so lovable on the whole.
June 18th, 2007 8:35 am
Colleen (and Bluest Butterfly), I wondered about the words on the lion too, but I don’t know any French. So I asked a friend of mine who is a French teacher and got this answer: “The words are just labels for the body parts. So his head says head, his haunch says haunch, etc.” Now you know. Congratulations again, Colleen, for getting the right lion for you.
~~~ Bonnie and Roary
June 18th, 2007 8:44 am
Now I just have to figure out how to get him on my sidebar. I have no idea.
June 18th, 2007 10:19 am
Yes, it was meant to be, and a sidebar for all things pink sounds like a great idea! I hope you get to meet Elliot some day – hey your husband suggested a trip to Paris!
June 18th, 2007 10:39 am
I could help you, Colleen, if you were on blogspot, but I don’t know about your page.
June 18th, 2007 10:55 am
Now who would name a pink lion Johnny Cash? Johnny was the man in black! I liked Elliot much better. What a neat project. Good luck getting him on your sidebar Colleen!
June 18th, 2007 11:05 am
Colleen, I came over to answer your question about getting Elliot into your sidebar. You’re using moveable type, and I’m not familiar with that (mine is wordpress) but do you have any sidebar widgets called something like text? WordPress gives me 9 of those widgets. Your “A perfect post” chicklet is probably in something like that. All you have to do is add the code for Elliot into that. If you have more, you can put Elliot into his own, but you could also put him into the same one the chicklet is in. On my computer, your sidebar looks narrower than your picture of Elliot, so you might have to size him down, but I’d try it how it is first.
I hope this helps! If not, does your blog allow guests to log in? Mine allowed me to give any number of people guest privileges (they can post but not change my blog or do anything administrative). If you have something like that, I would be happy to log in as a guest and figure out how to get Elliot where you want him.
June 18th, 2007 11:14 am
Thanks, Dew! I’ll look into it and will confer with my brother-in-law who got my perfect post bumper sticker up.
June 18th, 2007 12:18 pm
Congratulations on the adoption. And this whole lion thing, pink and all, is so right for you!
June 18th, 2007 1:19 pm
What fun! Your own lion.
I can’t wait to hear more about him!
June 18th, 2007 4:51 pm
Hi, I was the original owner of lion 11. I’m so glad that he has found such a welcoming new home . I was sorry to give him up, but he suits you so well. Enjoy him.
June 18th, 2007 7:00 pm
Hi PJ, Thanks for giving me a little more history on the pink lion. I enjoyed browsing around at your site.
June 18th, 2007 8:00 pm
Clearly it was meant to be that you have this lion. How cool!
June 19th, 2007 1:30 am
That is interesting about the body parts.
I am glad that that Elliot’s origianal adopter is checking in every once in a while. 🙂
June 19th, 2007 12:33 pm
I’m here this time from Michele’s!