My Story
Bomani Ivy is an educator, writer, musicologist, and philosopher, born and raised in West Baltimore and educated in Baltimore City public schools. He is a graduate of Coppin State University with a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, and of the University of Baltimore with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts. His passion for advocacy and for building strong families and communities fueled a twenty-plus year career in the field of education and human services for the State of Maryland. He writes to share his experience of growing up as a Black male in urban America with young and older readers alike.
on the birth of Bomani
by Lucille Clifton
for Jaribu and Sababu
we have taken the best leaves
and the best roots
and your mama
whose skin is the color of the sun
has opened into a fire
and your father, whose skin
is the color of the night
has carefully tended it with his hunter's hands
and here you have come, Bomani
an Afrikan treasure man
may the art in the love that made you
fill your fingers
may the love in the art that made you
fill your heart