Poems
"A friend … one who anticipates my wishes even before I have expressed them."
—Al-Tawhidi, al-Sadaqa wa al-Sadiq (Friendship and Friend)
Driving in Black & White
When I see a squad car down the street
I wonder if they’re coming for me.
Awash in guilt for crimes not my own
I slip on the chains myself and watch as I’m
Taken away, transported through the
Darkness back to the bowels of the sea.
I am shackled between Shame and Defiance.
Blood upon blood, sweat upon sweat
The three of us glowing in our blackness.
Unarmed, carrying the weight of skin
And bones as our only property.
I want to rise up from the depths, shake
The trees, empty the sea of its bodies.
—Heather Lobban-Viravong
She was driving.
The back road was isolated.
A police car came out of nowhere
She saw it swing behind us.
The officer claimed she was speeding.
We were from out of state.
Tersely, he said it was 50 not 55 or 60
As if we should have known.
I showed my face. I explained
Why we were on this trip.
Fearfully, I pleaded ignorance.
We escaped with only a curt warning.
Did my skin color save us?
—Jan Gross
Excerpt: Black & White and In-Between Conversation
With Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III
This excerpt from "Collegeville Connects" discusses our differing reactions to the shared moment of "Driving in Black & White,” recounted in poems we wrote many years after this experience.
The power of poetry often led to breakthrough moments in our conversations. Sharing poems helped us explore elusive feelings and repressed throughts. Poems were pathways to understanding how we saw each other and ourselves.
Published Poems
We had long written for academic journals and audiences, but our writing led us to share our poetry in non-academic settings. A few poems contained in our project have appeared in print or online.
The ekphrastic poems “Soaring” and “Abounding” inspired by the artwork of African American artist Jean Berry were published side by side in The Ekphrastic Review, September 25, 2020. The authors’ partnership with the artist is featured in the final pages of More Than Skin Deep: Conversations at the Color Line.
“(In)fertile Ground” by Heather Lobban-Viravong, posted in All We Can Hold. November 2016.
“The Other Half” by Jan Gross, posted in Haunted Waters Press under Splash!
“May Day Play” by Jan Gross in Lyrical Iowa 2020.
"Whiteness" by Heather Lobban-Viravong in Peregrine Journal. Volume XXXV. October 2021.
“Marching On” by Jan Gross in Lyrical Iowa 2021 (National/World Events category in honor of John Lewis), October 2022.
"On the Bus" by Jan Gross in Lyrical Iowa 2022 (inspired by a trip with Heather to Birmingham and Montgomery AL) in Lyrical Iowa October 2023.