Happy Poetry Month!

Friends of the Slowdown are invited to celebrate

with a special offer from Poetry Magazine.

This April, an annual subscription to poetry includes a limited edition notebook.

The notebook features a devious quote from Dorothy Alaska on its cover.

I'm almost always lying in a poem.

And the full poem is inside.

Use the notebook for your own poems, lies, and secrets.

Subscribe today at poetry magazine.org slash lying. During National Poetry Month, pass a poem along. Your gift to the slowdown turns your personal listening ritual into a public good, helping classrooms, caregivers, commuters, and late-night listeners to experience a few

grounded minutes of poetry and perspective, free of charge. Your support today widens the circle,

so tomorrow's episode finds someone who needs it. Pass a poem along when you donate today at slowdown show.org.

I'm Maggie Smith, and this is The Slowdown.

Thank you. And this is the slowdown. You've probably heard the boiling frog theory.

It goes like this.

If a frog is dropped into a pot of tepid water that is slowly heated, the creature

won't perceive the danger until it's too late, when the water is finally boiling and it's

cooked to death. But if a frog is dropped directly into boiling water, it will jump out immediately, saving itself.

I don't need to tell you that in this analogy, we're the frog. We're in hot water that keeps getting hotter.

So why aren't more of us jumping?

Why are we slow to react?

This analogy suggests that it's because the water didn't start out boiling.

We've been slowly acclimating to the increase in temperature, or rather, the increase in danger.

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