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Hey, thanks for being a part
of the conversation. This is Forest Stories.

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I'm the Poet in the Forest,
a children's series that I pinned out

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in the nineteen nineties. Now,
none of it would be possible if it

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wasn't for this forest right here in
South Arlotte, North Carolina. I talk

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about it so much that I thought
maybe it's time that you get to know

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what has inspired me for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the

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conversation. Welcome back to the forest. The cave, Yeah, we have

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a cave. It's on the opposite
side of Heartbreak Hill. It's what's created

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when the rain is coming down and
then it digs deep into the side of

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the hill, just like any other
cave, the pictorial caves out in Montana,

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where I spend a lot of time. That's how they were where the

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waterfall is, and it just kind
of eats away at the rocks and the

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dirt below with the cave. I
remember when I first came into the forest

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in nineteen ninety two, the teenagers
would hang out inside the cave, inside

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this forest there just to talk,
play, you know, just be kids.

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But these days, as the forested
area has aged, not too many

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children or even kids or even adults
go near the cave. Actually, I'd

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be kind of afraid to go into
the cave, but I know that during

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one of these episodes, I'm going
to have to do it. But I'm

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looking at the cave from where I
am right now on the path inside this

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forest in South Charlotte, North Carolina. Trees have fallen around it, but

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nobody seems to be interested until now
in the cave. I can see the

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opening of the cave. But what's
inside the cave? What kind of answers?

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What kind of of questions would I
have if I go inside and all

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of a sudden I'm surrounded by Mother
Earth. I would go in there with

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a pan and paper, yes,
to listen, to learn, to find

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out what's going on on the opposite
side of Heartbreak Hill, but the cave.

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On this episode, I challenge myself
to get permission to go into the

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cave. But somebody has got to
go with me, just in case something

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is in there and it's calling me
to go there. Thanks for being a

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part of the conversation.