The Ivory Starr Collection

About the Book

A New Day’s Dawn is a compilation of a lifetime of work that spans nearly forty years. If read closely, you can feel the maturation pulse as year after year brought both experience and knowledge of the creative writing process to the fore. The selected poems are indicative of that maturity. “The Romantic Influence,” “The Call of Nature,” and “A Touch of the Spiritual”—all superb. “The African American Experience”—outstanding clarity of thought in painting such vivid pictures. Even though the African American community is filled with “positives” to pull from, I focused on the negatives: slavery, drugs and violence, and fatherless homes. I chose this route because I wanted to illustrate the pit from where we’ve come in order to put a spotlight on where we’ve chosen to be. It’s a wakeup call for all those young people who believe that we’ve come of age, that we’ve reached that “mountaintop” Martin spoke of, and that we have nothing more to prove, to achieve—no more strives to make toward racial equality. The miscellaneous section covers the whole gambit of topics—the romantic, the spiritual, the nature, and the African American community. Overall, A New Day’s Dawn begins a new chapter in modern creative writing.

About the Author

Raised on a farm in southern Mississippi, Ivory learned to appreciate the beauty of nature from a firsthand view. Whether an early morning sunrise or the ever-changing seasons, he loved the deep, vivid colors and the fresh, clean smell after a spring shower. Having a grandfather who was a Baptist minister, he understands the role God plays in our everyday life. Although he has a mathematics background—once wanting to teach the art of problem solving to the next generation—his passion has long been writing. Having visited several countries, and lived in numerous states from New York to California, you could call him a wanderer. It is this wanderlust that has fueled his imagination—allowing him to write from the perspective of someone who has explored the world. A community activist, with an eye for youth activities, Ivory believes that in order to keep kids on the right path, you must give them positive, meaningful activities to occupy their time—and mind—thus countering all the negative influence society hurls at them. Whatever their venue of self-expression, that’s what MUST be given. Ivory’s aim is to help provide that venue by establishing a community youth center to encourage and support their individuality. In so doing, he hopes to improve the social objectives of each child. A few of the community action groups he has been involved in: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the African American Association, while a member of the United States Air Force; Network of Intel African Americans (NIAA)—an Intel Corporation employee group; Men of Action of Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi. Ivory holds an associate’s degree in mathematics, an associate’s in information systems management, and a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering technology.