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Speaker 1: Accepting the idea that creativity is an addiction. It will

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change you because it will help you learn to expect

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as well as respect the inner voices that you have.

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I see melatonin sold day in and day out, and

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I just want to ask, why, why don't you just

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answer the calling your creative self is knocking on your soul?

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Unplugged because we will always say yes to creativity, totally

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uncut because we all make mistakes. So turn it into

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a tool. This is arrow unplugged. I am a poet,

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one that just happens to write in a forest. In

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twenty fifteen, I stepped into a very special collection of

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trees at the Billygraham Library right here in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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While there, I did nothing but write, but I always

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believed inside my heart and soul that they were never

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my words. I believe that they belong to Billy. Nearly

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two years later, God spoke directly into my heart. He said, dude,

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come on, it's time to grow beyond the library, to

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write within other collections of trees, mainly your own forest

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in South Charlotte, North Carolina. You see in every place

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that I have written, the spirit of Billy's lyrics vibrate

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the purpose and plan that God is put into play.

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I never know what I'm going to write about until

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I enter that forest, which gives us plenty of time

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to talk about it in the end. Remember these aren't

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my words. These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest, Chapter

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three hundred thirty August twenty seventh, twenty twenty two. The

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depth of what I do as a poet is never

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truly explored. As a creative spirit. Now most will agree

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that we pretty much do that all creative people. We

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only take it so far. We try to reach into

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the world of inspiration, and we're left in a writing

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mess that is set aside for a different time and place.

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This forest, that which I live within, isn't particular, or

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it would be featured on a magazine cover. This is

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why I love wandering through a collection of trees. There's

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always something there, always seems to be harmony. Yet if

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you look closely, it's as if the entire presence that

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which nature has as designed could be featured on a

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TV show called Hoarders. There's endless amounts of everything, and somehow,

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someway we find ourselves fitting in. This forest has history,

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so much of it is hidden away and the writer

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wants to put it on display. I do believe in

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its energy, and I do believe it comes from a

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different time. Where do you find your place of just thinking?

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Because I believe that thinking is no different than writing.

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You're just putting it up here, and just like writing,

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which you can do, you want it up in a

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little ball and you throw it away. In radio we

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call that file thirteen. But where do you go to

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find that moment, that little bit of oh release. I'm

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sitting inside this forest even today, it's rained all night.

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The colors are very deep green. The ground is a

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deep brown because it's very damp. I keep waiting for

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the copperhead snakes to come crawling about. Oh. I'll never

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kill them because they're part of this forest. What do

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they bring to this forest? They keep things at bay,

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just like the spiders. People want to kill the spiders

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all the time. Why they're a part of nature. They

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take care of nature. The bat is no different, and

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yet people are afraid of the bat because it does

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bring disease. There's so much going on inside of a forest.

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But how do you fit into the places that give

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you that place to just think, to wander, to play

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around the mental images coming to life. And yes, you

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will have to return to this place called h right now.

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But where do you go? Do you honor it? Do

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you write about it? Do you think about it? Do

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you crave it? That place, that one little moment where

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you do feel like, oh, I find it within the trees.

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You might find it inside a city. You might take

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it for a walk, or you might just listen to

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it on your headset or your earbuds. But we all

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have that place. My only question today is do you

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respect it? Do you honor it? Do you let other

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people know? Because remember, what you do know is what

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they need to know, because they too live in the shadows.

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I'm ril. These are not my words. These are the

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lyrics from Billy's Forest.