LuLu Johnson earned a degree in Art History from Southern Methodist University, and an MFA in Poetry from Georgia State University. In Atlanta, LuLu began modeling for artists in graduate school, and she now resides in Appalachia where she hikes and writes her novels and poems.

PRAISE:

LuLu Johnsons bold collectionTheHigher Calloffers an intimate glimpse behind the curtain of artists and life models. Echoing John Bergers insight that to be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself, Johnson deftly alternates between poems that give voice to Picassos muses and those that speak to her own experiences as a model. With evocative, unflinching language that is at times funny and fearless, Johnson humanizes the model and transforms how we see both art and ourselves as viewers.

Andrea Jurjevi author of In Another Country

The Higher Call pulls you onto the models stand, where bodies ache, gazes consume, and immortality comes at a cost. These fifteen interwoven poems let Picassos musesMarie-Thrse Walter and Olga Khokhlovastep out of the frame to speak, while the poets own experiences as a figure model mirror their longing, betrayal, and desire to be seen. Under blue spotlights and the scrape of Cont crayons, the collection explores what it means to give yourself over to art: to be transformed, possessed, adored, and ultimately forgotten. Lyrical and unflinching, The Higher Call askswhat price do we pay to become immortal?

Phillip Shabazz author of Moonflower