Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This
is Forest Stories. I'm the Poet in the Forest, a
children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,
none of it would be possible if it wasn't for
this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I
talk about it so much that I thought maybe it's
time that you get to know what has inspired me
for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.
Welcome back to the forest.
Speaker 2: A friend recently asked me questions about what is it
like to walk on a forest floor, and I said,
it's very dangerous. He didn't understand. I said, look, let
me tell you something. Beneath all those limbs and those leaves,
there are gigantic holes that were created by roots and
the earth fell into those holes. So therefore, if you
don't go into that forest with an education of understanding
where those holes are, there's a big chance by the
time you get to the other side of the forest,
then what's going to happen is is you're going to
have bruised legs. You're going to fall into those holes.
Lord knows I've done that. So as I walk through
this forest today. The one thing that I've noticed in
a little meadowed area which is just on the edge
of the forest, I'm seeing there are marks and little
signifiers that are telling people if you walk across this meadow,
expect holes. And there's a lot of holes that I'm
seeing inside this forest right now, which makes me wonder
how much the land is really shifting. Is a d
to the drought? Is it due to the real torrential
downpourse that we had about a month ago? What is
creating all of these holes? And I'm glad that the
owners of this meadow give us the opportunity to say,
I don't think I'm gonna walk over there. That doesn't
look like it's going to be a healthy answer if
I choose to get any closer than that. But I
am keeping my eye on the cave which is at
the very top of Heartbreak Hill. And the reason why
is because with that cave, is it becoming deeper because
of all of the rain? Is it starting to rumble
on the inside because of the drought. I've got to
get into this cave to find out what is happening
with the earth now beneath my house. My house by
the way is built out over a hill, I'm able
to look at the lay of the land and see
what it's doing down there, because everything is pushing itself forward.
And the question is how can you stop this? Or
can you because in reality, and I've written about this
a thousand times inside my journals, so that none of
this really belongs to me. That's the reason why I
can't say it's mine. I'm just here as part of
the story, and I want to thank you for taking
the time to listen to it.