Speaker 1: Accepting the idea that creativity is an addiction. It will
change you because it will help you learn to expect
as well as respect the inner voices that you have.
I see melatonin sold day in and day out, and
I just want to ask, why, why don't you just
answer the calling your creative self is knocking on your soul?
Unplugged because we will always say yes to creativity, totally
uncut because we all make mistakes. So turn it into
a tool. This is arrow unplugged. I am a poet,
one that just happens to write in a forest. In
twenty fifteen, I stepped into a very special collection of
trees at the Billygraham Library right here in Charlotte, North Carolina.
While there, I did nothing but write, but I always
believed inside my heart and soul that they were never
my words. I believe that they belong to Billy. Nearly
two years later, God spoke directly into my heart. He said, dude,
come on, it's time to grow beyond the library, to
write within other collections of trees, mainly your own forest
in South Charlotte, North Carolina. You see in every place
that I have written, the spirit of Billy's lyrics vibrate
the purpose and plan that God is put into play.
I never know what I'm going to write about until
I enter that forest, which gives us plenty of time
to talk about it in the end. Remember these aren't
my words. These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest, Chapter
three hundred thirty August twenty seventh, twenty twenty two. The
depth of what I do as a poet is never
truly explored. As a creative spirit. Now most will agree
that we pretty much do that all creative people. We
only take it so far. We try to reach into
the world of inspiration, and we're left in a writing
mess that is set aside for a different time and place.
This forest, that which I live within, isn't particular, or
it would be featured on a magazine cover. This is
why I love wandering through a collection of trees. There's
always something there, always seems to be harmony. Yet if
you look closely, it's as if the entire presence that
which nature has as designed could be featured on a
TV show called Hoarders. There's endless amounts of everything, and somehow,
someway we find ourselves fitting in. This forest has history,
so much of it is hidden away and the writer
wants to put it on display. I do believe in
its energy, and I do believe it comes from a
different time. Where do you find your place of just thinking?
Because I believe that thinking is no different than writing.
You're just putting it up here, and just like writing,
which you can do, you want it up in a
little ball and you throw it away. In radio we
call that file thirteen. But where do you go to
find that moment, that little bit of oh release. I'm
sitting inside this forest even today, it's rained all night.
The colors are very deep green. The ground is a
deep brown because it's very damp. I keep waiting for
the copperhead snakes to come crawling about. Oh. I'll never
kill them because they're part of this forest. What do
they bring to this forest? They keep things at bay,
just like the spiders. People want to kill the spiders
all the time. Why they're a part of nature. They
take care of nature. The bat is no different, and
yet people are afraid of the bat because it does
bring disease. There's so much going on inside of a forest.
But how do you fit into the places that give
you that place to just think, to wander, to play
around the mental images coming to life. And yes, you
will have to return to this place called h right now.
But where do you go? Do you honor it? Do
you write about it? Do you think about it? Do
you crave it? That place, that one little moment where
you do feel like, oh, I find it within the trees.
You might find it inside a city. You might take
it for a walk, or you might just listen to
it on your headset or your earbuds. But we all
have that place. My only question today is do you
respect it? Do you honor it? Do you let other
people know? Because remember, what you do know is what
they need to know, because they too live in the shadows.
I'm ril. These are not my words. These are the
lyrics from Billy's Forest.