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.

Each episode of The Slowdown offers you a moment of attention, a poem and reflection that shift your perspective during busy days.

In celebration of National Poetry Month, you can now receive an added benefit when you support the Slowdown, a sponsorship-free version of the podcast.

Keep your listening centered on poetry because the best moments of your day are uninterrupted.

Learn more when you make your gift at Slowdownshow.org and thank you.

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

Music I'm a poet, not a statesperson.

I could do better at keeping tabs on what our military is up to internationally, but I'll be honest.

There is a part of me that really doesn't want to know.

When I do read up, I have the feeling like I'm watching a horror movie

through the cracks between my fingers.

I want to be informed,

but I know the facts will both terrify and enrage me.

After all, Donald Trump campaigned on the idea

that electing him was the best way to avoid wars.

He referred to himself as the peace president, and openly complained that he hadn't won a Nobel Peace Prize. It would be funny if it were a novel

or a doomsday film and not real life.

So where are we at war?

Iran, most recently.

...