Two Merging Poems, by Heather Lobban-Viravong and Jan Gross

Leap 3, by Jean Berry (USA) contemporary. Click image for artist site.

​Soaring 

Three bodies leaping, 
soaring, in suspension,
winged in red and gold.
Toes pointed as if to touch
the earth’s certainty. 
 
Heads turned to the heavens 
Limbs like tree branches
Legs flowing one to the other
Black, long, thin arms
outstretched as one 
 
reaches straight upwards
the other, reaching backwards
drawing them closer together

Abounding

Three beings bounding 
arms and limbs apace 
in diagonal syncopation
posturing perfection
shedding hesitation
 
Three figures divine
soaring in full flight
crowned in sunrise hues
crimson, fuchsia, peach
afoot on a stage of soft white
 
Three bodies sublime 
tethered and tempered
drawn in a single step

                                                   alight and aligned          
                                                                                   within           
                                                                                                in-between        
​                                                                                                               and beyond  our selves

​Heather Lobban-Viravong ​

 
​Jan Gross

Creators' note: Our hybrid prose/poetry project (unpublished so far) entitled Black & White and In-Between chronicles our twenty-year friendship and explores our differences in age, professional status, and racial identity. The final chapter was inspired by a third partner, African-American artist Jean Berry whose mixed media collage Leap 3 led us each to put words to the expressive imagery of her art. The syncopated triple movement of Leap 3 visualizes for us the interconnectedness of our words & works of art, as it celebrates the inherent hybridity of people, poems, prose, and art that surrounds and sustains us, especially in the age of Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter.

Jan Gross is a retired college professor of French; H. L. Viravong is a college administrator. Beyond their academic careers, they discovered creative writing as an outgrowth of their initial contact as mentor-mentee at the same academic institution. They now live far apart (H.L. in Pennsylvania; Jan in Iowa), but continue their poetic collaboration in Black&White and In-Between, a memoir of intergenerational and interracial friendship. Their discovery of African-American artist, Jean Berry, inspired them. Jean began her art career late in life. Her pieces in charcoal and pastel mine the depths of human emotion and celebrate the graceful beauty of black bodies in movement. Iowa-based, Jean has earned international acclaim for her timeless images.  http://jeanberryart.com