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

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

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

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it wasn't for this forest right here
in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I

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

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

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the conversation. Welcome back to the
forest. Presently watching a redtail hawk about

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twenty five maybe thirty feet off the
ground, up on a branch. We

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startled him out here on this path
in this forest. He was in the

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midst of having breakfast, and when
we came up to him, he was

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on the ground with his prey beneath
his claws. Now he's up in the

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tree, so we very patiently wait
for the hawk to make his move back

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down to the prey. He absolutely
notices me. His bright red tail is

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stunning, and his look is like
I see you every day human. You're

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too big to be by prey,
but together we can share this universe.

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And so as he stands there and
he looks so there like a that he's

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in flight, that bright tail.
He's now flown probably about maybe five hundred

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feet away from me. But that
flight is so smooth. You know.

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That's one of the things that I
had to learn how to deal with while

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living in this forest. For as
long as we have the wildlife and how

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the wildlife lives, Yes, it
hurts my heart to see how they will

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swoop down and grab a lizard,
to a squirrel, to a rabbit.

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And you sit there and you know
you have that pain in your soul,

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but you have to understand that they
too must eat, and so learning how

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to live with the wildlife in this
forest, even the turtles with the way

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that they survive. And I've never
killed a copperhead snake or even a black

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snake. I always allow them to
have the space. These are animals that,

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really, you know, the human
is basically in the way, and

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in this forest, my goal has
always been to let the wild have their

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way, and that includes the vines. Now, if I feel that the

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vines on the trees are starting to
choke the life from a tree, then

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I'll do something about it. I'll
thin things out just a bit. Pruning

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is so important. But being in
the presence of the wild, you got

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to kind of have a tough heart. And even though emotionally you are connected

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to every living thing and you are
to respect all living things, you still

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have to be able to say,
way to go, mister hawk. Your

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flight is beautiful. I hope you
enjoy your breakfast. Hey, thanks for

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being a part of the conversation.