Welcome to the Autumn 2022 Issue of The Rainbow Poems!

It’s always fascinating to see an informal kind of theme developing from the poems I select for each issue and this time is no different. This Issue of The Rainbow Poems has built itself around the idea of time passing and a conversation between generations.

To be human is to be part of a continuously changing experience. We are each of us a stone dropping into a pond, causing ripples. What do we want and need to say to our predecessors? What do we want future generations to understand about us?

We have the potential to learn from our histories, to move past them, even if we can’t forget. To thrive as individuals and contribute to our communities. I believe we can also take our curiosity about the world and about each other, and put it to good use. To show up in this world in a positive way. To focus on what Carol Ann Duffy calls (in her poem “Lessons In The Orchard”):“This bowl, life, that we fill and fill.”

*** Thank you and news about The Rainbow Poems ***

As of this Issue, The Rainbow Poems has featured over 140 writers: from experienced, award-winning poets with multiple collections to their name, to first-time poets sharing words about their own life experiences. I’m proud that The Rainbow Poems has offered a community for all those going through life change. Huge thanks to every one of our poets and readers, many of whom keep in touch with me regularly with news about their own life challenges. You are without exception A - M - A - Z - I - N - G!

As some of you already know, 2022 has been quite challenging for me personally. The Rainbow Poems is run by me as a volunteer project in my spare time and while I had hoped to be able to keep publishing regular Issues, right now it is necessary for me to step back a little, to live at a somewhat gentler pace. For this reason, I have decided that it’s time for The Rainbow Poems to go on hiatus, returning in late 2023.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported The Rainbow Poems, many of you having been here since our first Issue in early 2020! Please rest assured that our
archive of previous Issues will remain available.

I will look forward to seeing you all again sometime next year.
In the meantime, take good care of yourselves.

Lucy x