A Woman's Work

A WOMAN'S WORK: POEMS AND PONDERINGS OF THE HEART is a treasury of vivid vignettes depicting feminine softness, rage, fear, and strength. A testament to the emotional labor women carry, this volume contains poems of quiet meditation and urgent calls to allyship. Together they form a humanist's prayer for peace, delivered with acknowledgment of the banality of evil, the duality of human nature, and an appeal to the good in each individual. Swift's collection is unapologetically emotional and wholesomely empathic, encouraging a return to reflection and rest, to listening and learning from Mother Earth, and to putting love into action by defending the rights of the defenseless.

           "In a world seemingly on fire, Bethel Swift deftly maneuvers through its results and repercussions like every true poet before her: with captivating poetry that asks the hard questions and provides even harder truths and answers. A Woman's Work is a brilliant collection of poems, delivered to us right on time, a literary salve."

           -ADAM GREENFIELD, author of Regarding the Monkey and host of The Written Scene podcast

           "Swift captures the intricate emotions of being a woman-quiet endurance, righteous fury, and unwavering hope. Through lyrical grace and profound insight, Swift invites us to pause, reflect, and reconnect-with ourselves and with each other. These poems are more than verses; they are powerful reminders that empathy and justice begin deep within our hearts."

           -CHERIE KEPHART, award-winning author of A Few Minor Adjustments and Poetry of Peace

"A Woman's Work: Poems and Ponderings of the Heart opens a doorway into the interior lives of women-where tenderness meets fury, and vulnerability becomes a form of power. Swift navigates the landscapes of emotional labor, justice, and human dignity, weaving them into a lyrical meditation on what it means to care deeply in a world that often does not. Her work invites us to slow down, listen to the earth, and recommit ourselves to protecting what is fragile, sacred, and true. This is not just poetry-it is a reckoning and a refuge. Swift reminds us that empathy is a form of resistance, and that love, when acted upon, is revolutionary."

           -JOHNNIERENEE NIA NELSON, author of Classic Kwanzaa Poems: New and Collected and Kwanzaa Love

           "Bethel Swift's new collection demands active reading-I found myself reaching for my pen repeatedly, capturing lines, nodding at truths that are my truths, too, sighing at heartbreaks that touch my own. The poems in A Woman's Work don't shy away from life's hardest questions or its most tender moments. Swift writes with equal precision about love and longing, compassion and suffering, creating work that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant."

           -JUDY REEVES, author of When Your Heart Says Go and Wild Women, Wild Voices-Writing from Your Authentic Wildness