Village Savant™

According to Phoenix:

"Marcos came up to me one night. We talked. He reminded me of a cat I saw in Mexico once. He was kind. He'd also been bruised. He sent me some writing one day. It was emotional. I don't know anything about writing or art in general (read this, and check my collection), but Marcos' words didn't seem like they'd been written. More like they'd been discharged. He simply wrote what he felt. I admired that. I wanted others to read it. There might even be a lost one that finds it comforting. Or a nestled one that finds it irritating. Or it's for a decimated heart. Or a pretentious, rich actor, designer sunglasses and all, that would buy a 20 foot photo of the Black Panthers . . . I don't know. I don't really care. I like it. So . . . I thought about doing a book combining photography and writing using Marcos' words as the inspiration for the photographs. The only person I knew that could internalize Marcos' stories, and then reinterpret them visually, was Michael Muller. I met him before. He took me to get a picture framed in the Valley. He drives like a drunken gorilla on speed. I vomited. He seemed unfazed, merely muttering into his cell phone, "We got a live one." He'd be perfect for Marcos' writing. Initially I'd wanted to "act" the character of Marcos for each poem. I thought the combination of poems, photography and acting would be interesting. Of course, I was wrong. What happened, in turn, was that after introducing Michael to Marcos, and discussing and working on the idea, something much more organic took place. Over the last year, with ANOTHER NIGHT UPON US in mind, Michael has captured some startling, and visceral images. The marriage of their mediums has been amazing to watch. I wish I were capable of doing something that could even come close to their dirty, beautiful, poetically simian expression. Michael keeps shooting. Marcos continues to write. I still like it . . . "

Michael Muller's work has graced the covers and pages of magazines including Glamour , Elle , Rolling Stone , Harper's Bazaar , Detour , Spin , Flaunt , The New Yorker , Sky , Marie Claire , Premiere , ESPN , Esquire , Interview and Time . His signature style has been solicited for major campaigns such as Speedo, Nike, Airwalk, Dodge and Cingular, as well as for albums for artists including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Velvet Revolver and Jerry Lee Lewis. Muller is currently documenting Marvel Studios first film Ironman and has just completed work on Spiderman 3, Fantastic 4, Heroes, Friday Night Lights, as well as many other film and television projects. After more than a decade and a half of living, traveling, and working in Los Angeles, New York, and Paris, Muller once again calls Los Angeles his home, along with his wife and daughter.

Michael Muller, A Little Light has Entered, 2007
From the Poem: Plumb Perfect

PLUMB PERFECT by Marcos Johnson, 2007

I was born
A Water-Bearer

Who couldn’t Bear

To see things

So,

I fought Fire
With Fire

Which meant
I was always fighting
With myself
Since what was inside of me
Was the one thing
I couldn’t Bear
To see most

However, now

A little light
Has entered

Broken through
The bubbling cauldron

To where the Well
Was waiting

To be plumbed
With the pen

The infinite pool
That couldn’t be poisoned

No matter how many times
I used it
As my own personal
Waste dump

Toxicity too high
To do anything with

It almost went to waste

But the skies kept
Crying

For me

Filling it
With fresh water

To make use of
If and When
I was ever ready

My imperfections
Are much too obvious
At my age

Many of them
Will never go away

And I am

Probably
My most pure
On these pages

And even then
I’m not always sure

Sometimes

The readers write me
And ask
What I mean

Sometimes

They say
The words are beautiful

Sometimes

They say
They’re Vile

Sometimes

I grow
Despairing

And my words
Are too hot
To handle

Sometimes

It’s steam

And the more of it
That rises
Out of me

The cooler I get

Get it?

It all
Depends
On how deep
I dip
The dipper
That day

Can YOU

Dig it?

© 2007 MARCOS JOHNSON