Raised as an evangelical Christian, Bethel Swift started her dating journey late in life, after realizing that God was not going to drop the right guy in her lap. Throughout her three part book, Conversations with Good Men, Bethel shares poems of her experience as a daughter and then about her dating life. In this episode, you will hear what propelled Bethel to turn her personal experiences into a story, and what she found along the way. Bethel then reads two of her poems, the first called The Artist Takes Herself on a Date, which represents her journey of becoming a strong version of herself and the lessons she learned. The second poem, Potpourri Rain, is about her experience with sexual assault from someone close to her, which sent a chill down my spine. Tune in to learn more about Bethel’s dating journey
Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault
IN THIS EPISODE:
- [1:57] Bethel shares what her book Conversations with Good Men is about.
- [4:02] What propelled Bethel to turn her own personal experience with dating into a story?
- [5:40] What did she find in her explorations?
- [9:35] Why did Bethel include conversations with her father in a book about dating?
- [12:44] Bethel shares about the pieces she will be reading and where the stories came from.
- [13:34] We hear Bethel’s first poem The Artist Takes Herself on a Date.
- [16:50] Bethel shares her second poem Potpourri Rain. (Trigger Warning – Sexual Assault)
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- [2:59] In order to find the love of your life, you have to actually go out on dates and spend time with people to find out what your deal breakers are and what things are really important to you.
- [7:50] We cannot expect our lovers to be everything for us, it puts unrealistic and high pressure expectations on relationships.
- [16:08] Women will sometimes behave unexpectedly after an assault, like still being friends with the person or still trying to please that person. It can take days, months, years sometimes before women realize that the person did them wrong and that they don’t have to carry the blame.
Fiction Credits:
Poems written by: Bethel Swift
Poems narrated by: Bethel Swift
BIO:
Bethel Swift is a San Diego based artist, poet, indie publisher, workshop instructor, professional home organizer, and the author of Conversations with Good Men (2020, Swift & Sparrow Press). Bethel’s poetry has been published in Armenian Poetry Project, Haiku Journal, San Diego Poetry Annual, and Expressions from Englewood as well as exhibited at Columbia College Chicago. In 2017, Bethel was the recipient of an AWP Writer to Writer Mentorship with poet Sandy Coomer (Available Light). Prior to that, she studied poetry under Kristina Marie Darling (Dark Horse) and Larry Sawyer (Vertigo Diary) at the Chicago School of Poetics and with Martha Vertreace-Doody (Glacier Fire) at Kennedy-King College. Bethel earned her degree in journalism from Columbia College Chicago (in 2007) and her journalistic features, interviews, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in multiple print and web publications.
Bethel Swift’s Personal Facebook Page
Bethel Swift’s Business Facebook Page
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