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

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is Forest Stories. I'm the Poet in the Forest, a

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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. The things that you see

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and you can't see, and I often keep the cant

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scene away from you, one of them being this guy,

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the sixty two year old man with very very long hair,

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taking a walk on a path through a forest with

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his dog, his dog named Jesse. He calls it a

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transition walk. This guy in this forest and the things

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that he goes through and what he documents. You'll never

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see the handwriting, the different vocal d frags, but yet

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it happens every day inside this for a force that

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communicates to this long haired man walking his dog. And

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to say that the forest communicates with him is something

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that others easily brush off, because what does that even mean?

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If you don't believe in the spirituality of what these

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trees bring. And it's not just the trees, it's everything

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connected to the trees, from the tall grass to the stream,

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to the beautiful lake, to the birds that sing, to

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the deer that rub up against it. Their antlers have

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always got to be kept clean, so therefore the trees

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serve as yeah, that caretaker. It's amazing what trees will

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do to you, especially these trees inside this forest where

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the long haired man and his dog continue to walk

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each and every day. And it's not just a place

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to just, you know, go and look at all the beauty,

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but it's to receive, to listen to to learn new lessons,

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to question old lessons, to take it one step at

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a time through a collection of trees that stand above

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this guy with long hair and his dog, and they

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don't feel like they're any taller than he is. It's

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about being equal, it's about being loved. A forced with

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a long haired man and his dog. Hey, thanks for

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being a part of the conversation.