PURPOSEFULLY PASSIONATE ABOUT POETRY

​I’ve always written poetry and proudly penned my first song “Springtime” at age seven.  From memory, the key lines were “Springtime, springtime, oh how I love springtime.  When you are with me I feel so happy. Oh how I love springtime”.  Well, I like to think I’ve made a little progress since then.

As a teenager, most of my poems were dark; either about unrequited love or the supernatural.  At the time, I thought my best work was a poem called “The Great Devil King”. The only words I can recall now are “The water I pail makes no difference, this ship is sinking fast”.  Hmmm, the uplifting words of a brooding adolescent! I think we can leave those well alone.

​My 20s saw me absorbed in career-building in the corporate world. I worked long hours and largely forgot about poetic verse, except when things got really bad or funny, producing such titles as “Hit ‘n’ Miss, A Night on the Piss” (an ode to my dear husband and his mates), and a song titled “Stab You in the Eyes!” after one particularly long, hard day in the office.

​In my early 30s, motherhood, combined with my corporate career, almost swallowed me whole. In amongst all of the things I was “doing”, I had forgotten to do anything that fed my soul."

In my early 30s, motherhood, combined with my corporate career, almost swallowed me whole. In amongst all of the things I was “doing”, I had forgotten to do anything that fed my soul. Bottom-line: I was devoid of passion and sadly I had actually forgotten what I was even passionate about. I’d lost myself somewhere between mashed pumpkin and corporate spreadsheets, and it didn’t feel nice.

​I searched, soul-dived and peeled back more layers than exists in a bag full of onions. My biggest “take-out” of all of this work was the need to express myself through my writing in some shape or form."

After this realisation, I searched, soul-dived and peeled back more layers than a exists in a bag full of onions. My biggest “take-out” of all of this work was the need to express myself through my writing in some shape or form. I also found a need to show deep support for other people, particularly women. On Valentine’s Day 2014, my Purposeful Passion Facebook Page was born (since renamed Chels Taylor). At the time I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I knew I needed to have a voice. So for the first few months I simply cheered other women on, raving about their achievements to my mini-handful of followers. One day during meditation, I had this idea come to me to post a poem. I was scared, but I did it and soon I could see that it seemed to be of far more interest to my audience than any of my prior posts. Buoyed on by this little bit of success, another jolt of inspiration saw me come up with the idea of a weekly poem and “My Monday Muse” was born as a regular Facebook feature. I soon had a nice little following amongst my friends and other people who had discovered my writing online. ​

Happily, my writing had moved on from the dark days of teenage angst and the variable thoughts of my 20s, and become more uplifting. My Monday Muse usually saw me write the poem on the same day it was posted. I’d find a quiet 10 minutes at some point in the day and see what would come to me. Writing this sort of thing has never been an effort because in an odd way, it actually doesn’t feel like it’s me writing at all. I’m simply the vessel for whatever the Universe wants to convey. Usually there will be a topic or feeling that I am either pondering or grappling with and before I know it, I’ve just got to write something down.

​Many of the poems in my new audio download and e-book  "Poems for Loving, Living & Healing" (available for FREE download by clicking HERE) are from the “My Monday Muse” collection. It’s no accident that there happens to be 27 of them. Three, nine and 27 have always been my lucky numbers.  The purpose of my poetry is to nourish, encourage and inspire. It's rhythmical and accessible, because that's what I enjoy. I trust that you will benefit from listening to or reading my poems as much as I benefited from writing them.  

​Chels xxx

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