My name is Randy Hoyle, I'M sixty two years old and I'm a writer. I've been writng for twenty-five years. My first poem was written in anger. I was upset about some things that were going on in my life, and the words just spewed out. The poem was called Mockingbird. As if to spite the darkness, it filled the starless night with voices usually heard only during the light of day And I the witness, amazed at such boldness from such a simple creature found myself filled with a question Why should I hold my voice, in the darkness of ignorance or the starless nights of apathy? As years went by, I wrote nearly one hundred poems. I was published in about thirty newspapers and magazines. Then I started producing poetry and writng festivals. One was called The Freedom of Speech Poety Festival. This went on for eleven years. I also co-produced the Venus Envy Poetry Festival for Women. In all I produced more than twenty festivals and public readings. Around 2005, I published a book I had written. It was called The Ballad of Dred Scott. It was the story of a slave and a president who shared the same dream. It was based on the true story of a slave who sued for his freedom before the U.S. Civil War. Now, I must confess that I haven't written much lately. Perhaps a block caused by fear of what will happen; rejection, and a number of different little things that cause writers not to write. Here's to a start of a new beginning. - Randy