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Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This

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is Forest Stories. I am The Poet in the Forest,

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a children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,

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none of it would be possible if it wasn't for

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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

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time that you get to know what has inspired me

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for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.

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Welcome back to the forest. Probably not one of the

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prettiest stories this time around, and the reason why is

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because it's a moment of understanding that you're not the

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only one that's on this land that's enjoying these trees,

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the birds singing, the hawk that's flying next to you,

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and it's like we're all on the same walking time

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period path. Sometimes you just want to write a letter

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to him saying can you start five minutes earlier or later?

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Because when Jazz and I are out here in this forest,

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I don't need her going crazy because you brought your

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dog along too. But once again, that's the selfish me

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who happens to live in this forest, the Poet in

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the Forest. If we could just fix our times, and

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don't look at my dog as if you know my dog,

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and try to understand that you think you can fix

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my dog, because my dog in this forest is very

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protective of each and every living thing. These are her dear,

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that hawk is here for her. Ask her, she'll tell you,

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Jazzy in the forest, if we could just have the

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time and space to just be here alone. I know

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it's being selfish, but that is who I am as

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a writer. I write all by myself, I dream all

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by myself. Shouldn't I be able to walk through this

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forest all by myself? Of course, I want to turn

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this into a joke because I know that's not going

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to happen. And yet I am that poet that wishes

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to one day win the lottery, because I would love

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to buy every single home in this forest and get

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rid of them and allow this forest to become the

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force that it was before we all invaded it. But maybe,

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just one time, sit down and talk with somebody who's

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walking by, and say, can I leave five minutes earlier

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so that I don't interrupt you? Can I send you

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an email saying all right, Jesse and I are going

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out into the forest. Can you just give us some

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time so that we can just walk and listen to

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the hawk, to spot the owls up in the tree,

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To watch the playful squirrels as they do everything they

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can to save every single nut for the winter. To

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watch the pace of a falling leaf that was once

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green but it's now bright red. Can you just hold

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off for five minutes so that this moment of solitude

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can belong to us? Is that being selfish? Hey, thanks

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for being a part of the conversation.