ANNOUNCEMENTS - the cherita

A N N O U N C E M E N T

1 December 2024

Three unique short form genres created by ai li
that honour storytelling and keep its breath alive

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

my love for words
# 8:7 of the cherita
edited by ai li

*

drizzle
ai li’s fifteenth collection
of virgin cherita

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

For those of you who missed reading ai li’s essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua on Rhyvers and viewing her You Tube Cherita video interview for The Wise Owl by Neena Singh, for their special issue on Cherita, here are both links again below.

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 3800 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 2100 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor Rachna Singh called ‘insightful’.

After a year of quite intense collating, editing and publishing our books of cherita, gembun and dua, I’m now in the Orient, cocooned within a rainforest on a mystical island. My lodgings have a breathtaking view of a curvaceous pristine bay that looks far out to the Andaman Sea, allowing nature’s hidden treasures to both heal and refresh me.

The island I’m on is an island of legends. It is a haven where one can find Dusky langurs, Tokay geckos and Sunda colugos languishing amongst a teeming wealth of other wildlife.

the zen
of harmony
rainforest walk

ai li

I was mesmerised by the beauty of two wild Dusky langurs who offered me a rare glimpse of their lives and allowed me to capture this forever moment on film.

They live alongside residual echoes of old stories that spirit of place has in store as gifts for me, generously sharing them from one storyteller to another.

My journal and pen are readily at hand, with my camera wide awake in this newly found paradise. For a photographer, poet, wordsmith and storyteller, this verdant oasis is a panacea for mind, body and spirit, and the way home to mindfulness.

We’ve had one intense storm too many in London of late, and they were ferocious enough to prevent me from getting back to sleep time after time. This has resulted in my fifteenth book of virgin cherita which I’ve decided to call drizzle, and which I put together when I was safely ensconced behind window glass.

I am launching drizzle to accompany my love of words, edition #8:7 of the cherita, and so we have two paperbacks and two kindles for you, to round off the end of the year.

my love for words is our 12th book for 2024 of our eighth year. 93 anthologies of the cherita are now in existence and are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 16 Gembun Anthologies, and 11 Dua Anthologies, with more soon on their way.

my love for words is our 93rd book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

*

my love for words showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Germany, Canada and New Zealand.

my love for words, currently 93rd on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these books are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes, and now arriving nowhere, my first cherita, gembun and dua book, have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

I have edited this book as I have all the other anthologies of the cherita, to be experienced two ways. It can be read as one storybook but also as an anthology of individual poems. Two reading experiences within one book, filled with stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

ai li/ Dr.Vimmie Manoj/ Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ Teri Messmer/ Deborah Karl-Brandt/ Partha Sarkar/ Ceri Marriott/ Bill Waters/ Larry Kimmel/ Eva Joan/ Karina Klesko/ Peter Jastermsky/ Patricia Allen Smith/ James Haddad/ Biswajit Mishra/ Nicholas Gentile/ Jennifer Rood/ C. X. Turner/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Sharon Hawley/ Tim Callahan/ Jan Stretch/ Pitt Büerken/ Joanna Ashwell/ Michelle Farrell/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

they agree
to be just
friends

then
one

evening . . .

Peter Jastermsky

it’s a fable undiscovered
a thousand and one petals
to be bedded

so insatiable are

the clouds
this starless night

Karina Klesko

deep in the woods

a rushing stream
filled with runoff

— I stop
close my eyes
and listen

Bill Waters

like a balloon
drifting in the wind

my life
soars
out of control

you hold the string

Teri Messmer

will he be home again ?

his room
kept as it was

the clock stopped
the mirror fluid
with memories

ai li

I am
sending to you

in a separate email

another
of my
swan songs

Larry Kimmel

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this anthology for their timeless Cherita :

Dr.Vimmie Manoj/ Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Partha Sarkar/ Eva Joan/ Peter Jastermsky/ James Haddad/ / Patricia Allen Smith/ Jennifer Rood/ C. X. Turner/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Teri Messmer/ Karina Klesko/ Larry Kimmel/

my love for words has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

drizzle is ai li’s fifteenth book of exclusively cherita, and it appears alongside my love for words this month.

Here are three sample virgin cherita from ai li’s new cherita book with 6 more samples in the update for the cherita award :-

all

over town
what she
wasn’t wearing

the night air
so transparent

ai li
from drizzle

the footsteps that went
before me

on teak floorboards

climbing up
to the roof
to see the stars

ai li
from drizzle

somewhere

a dark vein
of thought
becomes

cat woman
in hourglass moonlight

ai li
from drizzle

This is December’s update on the cherita award :

I have selected for you another six virgin cherita from my new book drizzle to hopefully inspire you and guide you to wider avenues of possibilities with the genre.

If anyone is seriously considering to write Cherita well, my advice is for you to get hold of a copy of either one or both of our Cherita Award books or any of my own books which will help as reference guides for widening the storytelling scope for creating timeless Cherita.

I hope these cherita will further inspire you, should you decide to submit your virgin cherita for the cherita award. We now have Joanna Ashwell and Ceri Marriott, our first two Cherita Award recipients with river lanterns and soirée, their respective books. Who will be our next Cherita Award poet?

tailor made

for you
he said

shantung silk
the colour
of paradise

ai li
from drizzle

a love letter

under
the floorboard

it continued
loving
in the dark

ai li
from drizzle

old Lana Turner film

i finally get up
at white noise

to see
if a postman
rang my doorbell

ai li
from drizzle

i drifted

like snow
got tainted

colour
me
used

ai li
from drizzle

the late
late show

ageless faces
a columbarium
of movie queens

ai li
from drizzle

a few leaves

left
in winter sun

i tell them
to
let go

ai li
from drizzle

For all new entrants, please be aware that fewer words in your cherita are always more, and to not repeat a subject matter often, unless of course you are able to come to it from a very different angle or perspective, rendering it anew. You want your portfolio to be one of timelessness and wonder, and to avoid a sameyness of subject matter which would inevitably make your portfolio bland and yawn inducing.

Here’s December 2024’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 17-19 :

Anthology 17 just needs a final proof reading by me and we are up and running.

Anthology 18 is near the finishing line and I look forward to considering more of your timeless Gembun for this book.

Anthology 19 is blossoming with your new stories.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 16 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, rain song, ice storm, belonging, the water, dancing silhouette, empty bottles and i remember] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website

www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

*
Here too, is December 2024’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 12-16 :

Anthologies 12, 13 and 14 are now complete and awaiting final proof readings by me.

Anthology 15 and 16 have now joined the growing number of anthologies for Dua.

Writing good Dua requires a different mental discipline to Gembun and Cherita but it can be just as good a workout for our brain cells. Your storytelling skills are kept honed when you write all these three unique short form poetry genres. Seriously though, can we resist a challenge to tell our stories in a timeless fashion? I know I can’t. All these three genres challenge me to become a better storyteller in 6, 4 and 2 lines.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 11 [remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare, all is dark, listening to the ocean, no longer sky, home in rain wildflowers were here and in the room] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.
You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

NEW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES DECEMBER 2024

Please can you now submit all of your submissions in Arial 11 font size, left justified with no italics, and also use our standard submission email for all our genres. This will be in effect as of now.

You will still be required to fill in your hometown/city and country with all submissions [this info is for our files] but only your country will be published in our books from this edition onwards. This will help speed up my proof reading.

There are also no longer any deadlines for submissions which are now on an ongoing basis.

Edition # 8.7 will be the last book numbered this way. From January 2025, all our books will be simply numbered, starting with Cherita 94, Cherita 95, Cherita 96 and so forth. This new numbering style will be incorporated in all the acceptance letters.

General Information on the Gembun and Dua Anthologies

All our anthologies have 90 poems within.

In the next few months or so, I will endeavour to launch the finished anthologies which I hope to launch alternating with the dua anthologies, where possible, as you have all been saints with your inspirational patience.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun and dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

My wish, as I have indicated before, is for the both Anthologies to become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Gembun and Dua genres with the gems from your writing. That has not changed.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Dua may not have been around as long as Gembun and Cherita, but it is part and parcel of a storytelling trio which perpetuates the stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

I have enjoyed the challenge of selecting and collating for this edition of the cherita and of any other new books from either our 1-2-3 press or our the empty press, and hope that you will find the poems within worthy of a campfire gathering and the sharing of meaningful stories.

If this new book or books strikes or strike a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. It would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms

www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 November 2024

Three unique short form genres created by ai li
that honour storytelling and keep its breath alive

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

on my way
# 8:6 of the cherita
edited by ai li

*

soirée
our second cherita award book
by Ceri Marriott
edited by ai li

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 3600 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 2000 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor Rachna Singh called ‘insightful’.

Happy Halloween.
I was on my walk when I saw this house and I had to capture it with my lens.

I published our very first Cherita Award book river lanterns by Joanna Ashwell in July of last year. Joanna was also our first recipient of the cherita award with her excellent collection of Cherita.

This year and this November, you will be pleased to know that I have awarded Ceri Marriott, a name all our readers and contributors will be familiar with, with our second cherita award.

We have soirée, Ceri’s first cherita book which I am launching alongside on my way, edition #8:6 of the cherita. We have two paperbacks and two kindles for your reading pleasure.

Ceri is relatively new to Cherita but has surprised me with her dedication to the genre and her ability to produce a large number of excellent virgin cherita is so short a time. I am sharing several samples of Ceri’s cherita from soirée below to give you an amuse bouche for her debut cherita book.

I’ve also started to simplify how I publish our books and my first port of call to update was ‘Submissions’. The revised measures below that I came up with should hopefully save me time. The second change will be how I will be numbering each forthcoming cherita anthology.

There are also no longer any deadlines for submissions which are now on an ongoing basis.
Edition # 8.7 will be the last book numbered this way. From January 2025, all our books will be simply numbered, starting with Cherita 94, Cherita 95, Cherita 96 and so forth.. This new numbering style will be incorporated in all the acceptance letters.

on our way is our 11th book for 2024 of our eighth year. 92 anthologies of the cherita are now in existence and are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 16 Gembun Anthologies, and 11 Dua Anthologies, with more soon on their way.

on our way is our 92nd book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

*

on our way showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, China, Japan, India, Australia, Canada, Italy, and Germany.

on our way currently 92nd on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these books are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes, and now arriving nowhere, my first cherita, gembun and dua book, have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

I have edited this book as I have all the other anthologies of the cherita, to be experienced two ways. It can be read as one storybook but also as an anthology of individual poems. Two reading experiences within one book, filled with stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/ Dan Schwerin/ Joanna Ashwell/ Sigrid Saradunn/ kris moon kondo/ Larry Kimmel/ Leon Tefft/ Partha Sarkar/ Dr.Vimme Manoj/ Taura Scott/ Bryan Rickert/ ai li/ Stella Damarjati/ Jan Stretch/ Ceri Marriott/ Sharon Hawley/ Teri Messmer/ Thomas DeFreitas/ Barbara Anna Gaiardoni/ Eva Joan/ Karina Klesko/ Peter Jastermsky/ JF Denis/ Allyson Chen/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Deborah Karl-Brandt/ Roy Kindelberger/ Yiwei Huang/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

through
the grass

: ( silently

snake
snake
snake

Peter Jastermsky

seeing
your face
on the screen

a thousand miles away

time travel
is real

Teri Messmer

on the beach

I follow in your footsteps
(whoever you are)

imagining
sandaled
feet

Larry Kimmel

stripped you off
snake-like

thousand
possibilities
now

no way back

Eva Joan

loneliness

the last leaf
holds fast

to
the barren
branch

Karina Klesko

*
lantern-

left
by
mother…

glows
evening

Partha Sarkar

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this anthology for their timeless Cherita :

Kathabela Wilson/ Partha Sarkar/ Thomas DeFreitas/ Peter Jastermsky/ Karina Klesko/ Jackie Chou/

on my way has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

soirée by Ceri Marriott is our second Cherita Award book and it appears alongside on my way this month.

Here are three sample virgin cherita from soirée, our new second cherita award book with 6 more samples in the update for the cherita award below:

summer
solstice
dancing

the sunflower

lifts its
yellow head

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

champagne
flutes

pipe dreams

made
and
broken

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

once
the jigsaw
was complete

now
so many pieces

are missing

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

November’s update on the cherita award comprises of 6 more virgin cherita from soirée, Ceri Marriott’s first cherita book and our second Cherita Award book.

These are cherita to enjoy and be inspired by :

another time
another place

it might have been
a different story
a different ending

so much depends on the beginning

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

trees devoid
of leaves

the silence
of long missed avian friends
and dwindling light

yet still the rose unfurls

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

time alone
was
always precious

now
I feel

alone

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

lilac
flowers

the rich
pervading
scent

of childhood

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

why can I see
two of you ?

the ghost
it lives
upstairs

you said

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

new
beginnings

carpe diem

dusk
comes
all too soon

Ceri Marriott
from soirée

Here’s November 2024’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 17-19 :

Anthology 17 is now complete and awaiting a final proof reading by me.
Anthology 18 is coming along splendidly and I look forward to considering more of your timeless Gembun for this book.
We now have Anthology 19 to fill with your timeless virgin gembun.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 16 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home,bedtime story, rain song, ice storm, belonging, the water, dancing silhouette, empty bottles and i remember] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website

www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

*
Here too, is November 2024’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 12-14 :

Anthology 12 is now complete and awaiting a final proof reading by me.
Anthologies 13 is almost there.
Anthology 14 is our new edition and filling up with your timeless Dua.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 11 [remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare, all is dark, listening to the ocean, no longersky, home in rain, wildflowers were here and in the room] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

*
General Information on the Gembun and Dua Anthologies

All our anthologies have 90 poems within.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun and dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Dua may not have been around as long as Gembun and Cherita, but it is part and parcel of a storytelling trio which perpetuates the stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

If this new book or books strikes or strike a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. It would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms

www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 October 2024

Three unique short form genres created by ai li
that honour storytelling and keep its breath alive

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

the sound
# 8:5 of the cherita
edited by ai li

*

i remember
gembun anthology 16
edited by ai li

*

in the room
dua anthology 11
edited by ai li

*
updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

For those of you who missed reading ai li’s essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua on Rhyvers and viewing her You Tube Cherita video interview for The Wise Owl by Neena Singh, for their special issue on Cherita, here are both links again below.

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 3400 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 1900 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor Rachna Singh called ‘insightful’.

Autumn has brought the first woodpecker to our yard. He has learnt to gracefully eat from our squirrel proof feeders in spite of his size. I watched him from my window, transfixed at the natural beauty of his very being. When he had his fill, he flew over to our tall Pinus tree and started pecking for sap and insects and then vanished into the early dusk. I am now dreaming of hot roasted chestnuts and my old log fire when I reluctantly had to fell our diseased elm and sacrifice its remains for our warmth. The autumnal mist on the old Roman Road that ran alongside our cottage has returned to my pen tonight to haunt my reverie into recalling another story of loss.

Here are nine of my published poems of cherita, gembun, dua, tanka and haiku for October – all 5 genres that continue to challenge me to write in the quiet of one breath :

shorter days
rubbing my bare arms
at dusk

ai li
first published in akitsu quarterly summer 2017

the seasons change
your hair colour too
what comes after
autumn sunrise
winter blue ?

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 38

lonely hearts ad

she circles
the box numbers
of seven lonely men

a week in bed
would be nice

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 38

piano stool

someone’s
warmth
left behind

ai li
first published in gembun anthology 3 paper talisman

how does this story end ?

badly you say
empty boxes
of discarded tissues

the window
wet with rain

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 38

a year on

my brolly still in mourning

ai li
first published in dua anthology 4 the rain

give me
the dark
i am younger
in
the dark

ai li
first published in bottle rockets 37

the long way home because i’m lonely

ai li
first published in akitsu quarterly fall 2017

no garden of eden

but there are apples

ai li
first published in dua anthology 5 something rare

I have again 3 paperbacks and 3 kindles for you this October to enjoy, inspire or dream with the colours of Fall.

the sound is our tenth book for 2024 of our eighth year. 91 anthologies of the cherita are now in existence and are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 16 Gembun Anthologies, and 11 Dua Anthologies, with more soon on their way.

the sound is our 91st book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

i remember is our new Gembun Anthology 16 and in the room is our Dua Anthology 11. Both these eagerly awaited anthologies have launched alongside the sound.

*

the sound showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, China, India, Canada and Germany.

the sound currently 91st on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these books are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes, and now arriving nowhere, my first cherita, gembun and dua book, have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/ ai li/ Tim Callahan/ Leon Tefft/ Partha Sarkar/ Jan Stretch/ Teri Messmer/ Bryan Rickert/ Dr. Vimmie Manoj/ Deborah Karl-Brandt/ Stella Damarjati/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Pitt Büerken/ Yiwei Huang/ Ann Smith/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Joanna Ashwell/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

gulag archipelago

even now in
stillness

moonlight
cannot
escape

Leon Tefft

Life is a duet
Life is a duet

Death however
is
always

a solo

Tim Callahan

down
sizing

to
one
window

a monitor

Larry Kimmel

here in Shanghai

the stars
have been swallowed
by skyscrapers

we stare inward
stargazing too

Kathabela Wilson

first thunder

after heat
waves..

my
love song
for you

Partha Sarkar

*
now broken

the
porcelain bowl

the echoes
in
flagstones

ai li

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this anthology for their timeless Cherita :

Tim Callahan/ Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/ Larry Kimmel/ Leon Tefft/ Partha Sarkar/ Teri Messmer/ Ann Smith/ Joanna Ashwell/

the sound has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

i remember is our new Gembun Anthology 16 and it appears alongside the sound and in the room this month.

i remember has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Japan, India, Germany and Canada.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :

ai li/ James Haddad/ Kathabela Wilson/ Lee Hudspeth/ Jackie Chou/ kris moon kondo/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Richa Sharma/ Pitt Büerken/ Paulette Calasibetta/ D’ellen/ Diane Funston/ Nicholas Gentile/ Orrin Préjean/ Jan Stretch/ Connie Pittman-Ramsey/ Partha Sarkar/ Eva Joan/ Tracy Davidson/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Joanna Ashwell/ Megha Anne Wilson/ Ceri Marriott/

Here are six sample virgin gembun from this anthology :-

the lamp glowed freely

bright as could be
filled the room
waiting for a story

James Haddad

time
like a feather
in the wind

hold your breath

Eva Joan

breeze

a butterfly
kisses
my cheek

Jan Stretch

finding time

to dream again
among the stars
i find my breath

Connie Pittman-Ramsey

carrying mist

over
his shoulders
Himalayas

Richa Sharma

the loneliness

of
an abandoned
wall clock

ai li

*
a gem has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for gembun that shone :

James Haddad/ Paulette Calasibetta/ Connie Pittman-Ramsey/ Tracy Davidson/ Joanna Ashwell/ Nicholas Gentile/ Eva Joan/

in the room is our new Dua Anthology 11 which appears alongside the sound and i remember this month.

in the room has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Germany, Canada and Australia.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology:-

Neena Singh/ ai li/ Kathabela Wilson/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Pitt Büerken/ Radhamani Sarma/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Taura Scott/ Partha Sarkar/ Rita Melissano/ Diane Funston/ Norma Bradley/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ Stella Damarjati/ Nicholas Gentile/ Prashanth V/ Tracy Davidson/ Isabella Kramer/ Richa Sharma/ Jan Stretch/ Vidya Premkumar/ Bryan Rickert/ Megha Anne Wilson/

Here are six sample virgin dua from this anthology :-

the tree

spreading shadow

Pitt Büerken

tucking myself in

hunger moon

Bryan Rickert

faster than a fruit fly

another grey hair

Jan Stretch

i’m out of letters to write to people

no! i’m out of people

Megha Anne Wilson

deeper into my soul

the discarded doll

Richa Sharna

forever…

a hefty dowry

Prashanth V

a dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this book for their moonbeams :

Pitt Büerken/ Radhamani Sarma/ Rita Melissano/ Taura Scott/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ Prashanth V/ Richa Sharma/ Jan Stretch/ Bryan Rickert/

This is October’s update on the cherita award :

Here are another six of my cherita first published by M Kei, editor and publisher of Atlas Poetica in ATPO 33 and ATPO 40. Dear, dear Kei believed in, and championed cherita from early on and I am forever grateful for his vision and kindness. I hope these cherita will further inspire you, should you decide to submit your virgin cherita for the cherita award.

a box of chocolates

left
on her bed

the window open
with
a full moon

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 38

no one here

but
my shadow

looking for
someone
to live with

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 38

a part of me

finds a part
of you

that was kind
and i can’t
stop crying

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 38

looking back

raindrops
on the back windscreen

the farewell
already
a memory

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 40

the ritual

of lighting
candles

the ritual
of
going inside

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 40

your sari

caught
in the doorway

one
of the colours
of rajasthan

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 40

Here’s October’s 2024 update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 17-18 :

Anthology 17 is now complete and awaiting a final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 18 is coming along beautifully and I look forward to considering more of your timeless Dua for this book.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 16 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, rain song, ice storm, belonging, the water, dancing silhouette, empty bottles and i remember] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

Here too, is October’s 2024’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 12-14 :

Anthology 12 is now complete and awaiting a final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 13 is very nearly there.

We now have Anthology 14 which has just emerged and slowly but surely filling up with your timeless Dua.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 11 [remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare, all is dark, listening to the ocean, no longer sky, home in rain wildflowers were here and in the room] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

General Information on the Gembun and Dua Anthologies

All our anthologies have 90 poems within.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun and dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Dua may not have been around as long as Gembun and Cherita, but it is part and parcel of a storytelling trio which perpetuates the stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

I have enjoyed the challenge of selecting and collating for this edition of the cherita and of any other new books from either our 1-2-3 press or our the empty press, and hope that you will find the poems within worthy of a campfire gathering and the sharing of meaningful stories.
If this new book or books strikes or strike a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. It would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms
www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 September 2024

Three unique short form genres created by ai li
that honour storytelling and keep its breath alive

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

sitting quietly
# 8:4 of the cherita
edited by ai li

empty bottles
gembun anthology 15
edited by ai li

wildflowers were here
dua anthology 10
edited by ai li

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

For those of you who missed reading ai li’s essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua on Rhyvers and viewing her You Tube Cherita video interview for The Wise Owl by Neena Singh, for their special issue on Cherita, here are both links again below.

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 3200 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 1700 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor Rachna Singh called ‘insightful’.

I have always been able to smell autumn in the air and I’m again eagerly awaiting the colours to put on a show this year. I’m playing Autumn by Streisand, which has always been a personal favourite, late into the night as I’m typing. This song was from Barbra’s fabulous early album People which was recorded in 1964. Autumn was written by David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr. with the arranging and conducting by the late Peter Matz. Her voice in this song reflects the melancholy that is part and parcel of that leaving time of year. I was fortunate to have seen her perform in London a few years ago and hear her sing so many of her unforgettable songs. Her voice, if I am honest, was no longer as powerful and emotional as it used to be but that didn’t matter as we were still mesmerised by the presence of one of the 20th century’s silver screen and Broadway legends. The hard-to-get tickets with to-die-for seats dropped like manna from heaven because a work colleague of my other half was unable to attend at the last minute. Needless to say, it was an extended and sell out concert, and the lasting memory of it so very precious.

Here are five of my published poems on autumn starting with a dua, then haiku, followed by cherita, gembun and finishing with tanka – all 5 genres that I can’t stop writing :

the garden swept

the echo of quiet

ai li
first published in the rain dua anthos 4

autumn
i hear
our rain

ai li
first published in hedgerow #119

i may need

a walking cane soon
leaves are falling

their paths slippery
your firm support
now a memory

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 37

pea soup

just
old London
fog

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 37

in the cold night air
i meet a woman who makes shawls
she drapes one
over my shoulders
and is gone

ai li
first published in hedgerow #106

I have again 3 paperbacks and 3 kindles for you this September to enjoy, inspire or dream with when the weather gets inclement.

sitting quietly is our ninth book for 2024 of our eighth year. 90 anthologies of the cherita are now in existence and are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 15 Gembun Anthologies, and 10 Dua Anthologies, with more soon on their way.

sitting quietly is our 90th book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

empty bottles is our new Gembun Anthology 15 and wildflowers were here is our Dua Anthology 10. Both these eagerly awaited anthologies have launched alongside sitting quietly.

sitting quietly showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Japan, China, Italy and Germany.

sitting quietly currently 90th on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these books are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes, and now arriving nowhere, my first cherita, gembun and dua book, have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

ai li/ Partha Sarkar/ Joanna Ashwell/ Kathabela Wilson/ Ash Greenwood/ Teri Messmer/ Sigrid Saradunn/ kris moon kondo/ Nicholas Gentile/ Stanley E Denny/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Jackie Chou/ Larry Kimmel/ Steve Wilson/ Yiwei Huang/ Maria Tosti/ Rita Melissano/ Leon Tefft/ Ann Smith/ Nichael Cramer/ Steph White/ Eva Joan/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

is touching
ever enough

it leads to
thinking and
the mind says

i want more

Teri Messmer

talking
to myself

best not to argue

best not
to argue

Sigrid Saradunn

dawn
till
dusk

and

then
what ?

Larry Kimmel

readers in decline

vacancies
for the dreamer

pages fold
into wings
of the phoenix

Joanna Ashwell

dancing
into the early
hours of a.m.

i used to

there was no one
to go home to

ai li

your fluid grace
laps my shore
of desire

if only to
swim in you

drown in you

Leon Tefft

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this anthology for their timeless Cherita :

Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/ Larry Kimmel/ Teri Messmer/ Leon Tefft/ / Ash Greenwood/ Joanna Ashwell/

sitting quietly has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

empty bottles is our new Gembun Anthology 15 and it appears alongside sitting quietly and wildflowers were here this month.

empty bottles has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Germany, Canada and Japan.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :

Jan Stretch/ R. Suresh Babu/ ai li/ James Haddad/ Pitt Büerken/ Teri Messmer/ Liz Goetz/ Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Richa Sharma/ Eva Joan/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Paulette Calasibetta/ Lee Hudspeth/ D’ellen/ Diane Funston/ kris moon kondo/ Rita Melissano/ Lynne Jambor/

Here are six sample virgin gembun from this anthology :-

abandoned garden

all the roses
grown through
my bones

Kathabela Wilson

away
the birds flew
never looking back

one wished he had

James Haddad

but winter
is coming
and ice

a whisper in my ear

ai li

late autumn

the beach
the sand
the wind

Pitt Büerken

starstruck

my arms sore
from reaching
for the sky

Jackie Chou

over the hill
we flew
dancing

soon we will be far away

James Haddad

a gem has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for gembun that shone :

Pitt Büerken/ Jan Stretch/ Teri Messmer/ James Haddad/ Jackie Chou/ Richa Sharma/ Kathabela Wilson/ Lee Hudspeth/

wildflowers were here is our new Dua Anthology 10 which appears alongside sitting quietly and empty bottles this month.

wildflowers were here has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Canada, India and Spain.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

Pitt Büerken/ ai li/ Lee Hudspeth/ Sharon Hawley/ Taura Scott/ Sigrid Saradunn/ James Haddad/ Jan Stretch/ Partha Sarkar/ Neena Singh/ Steven Bruce/ John Zheng/ Kathabela Wilson/ Wafic Kahlil/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Diane Funston/ Radhamani Sarma/ Norma Bradley/ Tim Dwyer/ Tracy Davidson/ Prashanth V/ Nivy/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ Ganesh R/ Lisa Ann Sparaco/

Here are six sample virgin dua from this book :-

saxophone

on a rainy evening

Partha Sarkar

the two of us

home on the crowded train

Tim Dwyer

a songbird sings

to my darkness

Neena Singh

my shadow

a biker runs over it

Pitt Büerken

i want to sleep

the sleep of apples

Steven Bruce

the word forever

is that a haunting ?

ai li

a dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this book for their moonbeams :

Pitt Büerken/ Lee Hudspeth/ Steven Bruce/ Partha Sarkar/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ Ganesh R/ Neena Singh/ Sharon Hawley/ Taura Scott/

This is September’s update on the cherita award :

Here are six of my cherita first published by M Kei, editor and publisher of Atlas Poetica in ATPO 33. Dear, dear Kei believed in, and championed cherita from early on and I am forever grateful for his vision and kindness. I hope these cherita will further inspire you, should you decide to submit to the cherita award.

from your highrise

hearing
the late night train

i could sleepwalk
onto the terrace
and follow the wind

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 33

it’s lonely

at the top
but the view

from
your penthouse
is breathtaking

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 33

he died

in a plane crash
young

the sky holds the moment
and we felt its impact
anniversary rain

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 33

i am restless

on a wet night
someone’s radio
playing bacharach’s

a house
is not a home

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 33

is life a dream ?

i’m quieter
after supper

wondering
who cooked tonight
the kitchen dark

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 33

footsteps

on fallen leaves
the familiarity

of the sound
i turn
and it is dusk

ai li
first published in Atlas Poetica 33

Here’s September’s 2024 update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 16-18 :

Anthology 16 is complete and awaiting a final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 17 is almost there and 18 meanwhile is blossoming with the timeless gembun you have sent in.
Strong story lines are emerging, as more and more timeless stories flow in.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 15 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, rain song, ice storm, belonging, the water,dancing silhouette and empty bottles] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

*

Here too, is September’s 2024’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 11-13 :

Anthology 11 is complete and awaiting a final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 12 is nearly there and Anthology 13 is coming along beautifully with your timeless stories.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 10 [remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare, all is dark, listening to the ocean, no longer sky, home in rain and wildflowers were here] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

General Information on the Gembun and Dua Anthologies

All our anthologies have 90 poems within.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun and dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Dua may not have been around as long as Gembun and Cherita, but it is part and parcel of a storytelling trio which perpetuates the stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

I have enjoyed the challenge of selecting and collating for this edition of the cherita and of any other new books from either our 1-2-3 press or our the empty press, and hope that you will find the poems within worthy of a campfire gathering and the sharing of meaningful stories.

If this new book or books strikes or strike a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. It would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms
www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 August 2024

Three unique short form genres created by ai li
that honour storytelling and keep its breath alive

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

transient
# 8:3 of the cherita
edited by ai li

dancing silhouette
gembun anthology 14
edited by ai li

home in rain
dua anthology 9
edited by ai li

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

I have three paperbacks and three kindles for you this August but before I go any further with the news, I was saddened to hear of the death of one of our earlier storytellers, Deborah P Kolodji whose Cherita I first published in 2018, and then in 2019 and 2020.

tossing a pebble

the ripple
of your words

the ripple
that will run
through time

Deborah P Kolodji and ai li
from the storyteller, the cherita #3:6

May she long continue to tell her stories wherever her spirit has flown to . . .

With the schools around me now closed for Summer, the streets are empty and blissfully quiet. This is perfect for writing one breath cherita, gembun and dua while sipping pu erh with spirit, long into the night.

Time to dream. My parked starship to the stars at hand, lightly brushed with dew.

transient is our eighth book for 2024 of our eighth year. 89 editions of the cherita are now in existence and are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 14 Gembun Anthologies, and 9 Dua Anthologies, with more on their way.

transient is our 89th book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

dancing silhouette is our new Gembun Anthology 14 and home in rain is our Dua Anthology 9. Both these eagerly awaited anthologies have launched alongside transient.

This edition of transient showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Germany, Canada, China and Italy.

transient, currently 89th on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these editions are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

I have edited this edition as I have all the other editions of the cherita, to be experienced two ways. It can be read as one storybook but also as an anthology of individual poems. Two reading experiences within one book, filled with stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ Larry Kimmel/ Teri Messmer/ Partha Sarkar/ John Paul Caponigro/ Joanna Ashwell/ Jackie Chou/ Megha Anne Wilson/ Isabella Kramer/ Kathabela Wilson/ Leon Tefft/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Teri Messmer/ Ash Greenwood/ Nicholas Gentile/ Partha Sarkar/ David Cox/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Connie Pittman-Ramsey/ Sean Wilson/ Eva Joan/ Yiwei Huang/ Maria Tosti/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this edition :-

the dark continent
holds my daughter
while she sleeps

a bare army cot

my heart
is her pillow

Teri Messmer

rain angels

all over
touching every cloud

when the storm
becomes a runway
for wings

Joanna Ashwell

midsummer night

while fireflies
dance around

goblins
whisper
lewdness

Isabella Kramer

your face

the
romantic
caress

of
moonlight

Nicholas Gentile

night owl

i’ve
become one

my lit window
is now
the neighbourhood moon

ai li

the

swirling
northern
lights

no
words

Barry J. Vitcov

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their timeless Cherita :

Larry Kimmel/ Teri Messmer/ Joanna Ashwell/ Jackie Chou/ Partha Sarkar/ Isabella Kramer/ Nicholas Gentile/ David Cox/ Barry J. Vitcov/

transient has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

dancing silhouette is our new Gembun Anthology 14 and it appears alongside transient and home in rain this month.

dancing silhouette has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Canada, Germany, Japan and India.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :

Rita Melissano/ Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ Liz Goetz/ Jan Stretch/ Pitt Büerken/ James Haddad/ Jackie Chou/ kris moon kondo/ Lee Hudspeth/ Richa Sharma/ ai li/ Eva Joan/ Paulette Calasibetta/ D’ellen/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Lynne Jambor/ Radhamani Sarma/ Joanna Ashwell/

Here are six sample virgin gembun from this edition :-

everyday

is
an adventure
the wandering sun

Liz Goetz

making a day

I play god
by painting
the sunrise

Jackie Chou

sleet
neither rain nor snow
but both

an intersex child

Jan Stretch

a bouquet
of
dreams

on the sequined brocade

Kathabela Wilson

if
he asks
I will leave

a fallen camellia

Richa Sharma

stay

4 letters
so close
to begging

ai li

a gem has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for gembun that shone :

James Haddad/ Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Richa Sharma/ D’ellen/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Pitt Büerken/ Eva Joan/ Lynne Jambor/ Radhamani Sarma/ Rita Melissano/

home in rain is our new Dua Anthology 9 which appears alongside transient and dancing silhouette this month.

home in rain has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Australia, Canada, India and Japan.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ Pitt Büerken/ Madhuri Pillai/ Norma Bradley/ Jan Stretch/ Radhamani Sarma/ Sharon Hawley/ Taura Scott/ James Haddad/ Kathabela Wilson/ kris moon kondo/ Lee Hudspeth/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Pauli Dutton/ Richard H. Dutton/ Jackie Chou/ Partha Sarkar/ Joanna Ashwell/ Rita Melissano/ Neena Singh/ Pat Smith/ Larry Kimmel/

Here are six sample virgin dua from this edition :-

my chair

is asleep

James Haddad

behind heavy curtains

an old cat

ai li

umbrellas on show

days of my hut and wet

Radhamani Sarma

even the moon

has a shadow side

Jan Stretch

one tear

not yet fallen

Kathabela Wilson

only blanc lines

what a sage poem!

Pitt Büerken

a dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their moonbeams :

Radhamani Sarma/ James Haddad/ Sharon Hawley/ Taura Scott/ Pitt Büerken/ Jan Stretch/ Neena Singh/ Larry Kimmel/

This is August’s update on the cherita award :

Here are six of my published cherita from my books night poetry and finding the magic [both available on Amazon in paperback and kindle], and published by the empty press. I hope these cherita will further inspire you, should you decide to submit to the cherita award.

a day

to remember
forever

you said
my eyes
on the Aegean

ai li
from night poetry by ai li

looking up

at the moon
i’m reminded

that
i’m not alone
in the universe

ai li
from night poetry by ai li

a near forgotten story

that bedtime
made sacred

stardust
on silverfish
dancing

ai li
from night poetry by ai li

matchmaker

without her help
i would not have been here

writing words
to honour
the dead

ai li
from finding the magic by ai li

it’s late

and
the house

is now dark
frost
on the roof

ai li
from finding the magic by ai li

the skin

of hot
late night
milk

the touch from
a silver tea spoon

ai li
from finding the magic by ai li

Here’s August’s 2024 update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 15-18 :

Anthologies 15 and 16 are now complete and awaiting a final proof reading by me.

We have a new Anthology 18 join the fold.

Anthology 17 meanwhile is steadily growing with the timeless gembun you have sent in. Strong story lines are emerging, as more and more timeless stories flow in.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 14 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, rain song, ice storm, belonging, the water and dancing silhouette] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

Here too, is August 2024’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 9-13 :

Anthologies 10 and 11 and now complete, and awaiting a final proof reading by me.

Anthology 12 is almost there and Anthology 3 is coming along beautifully with your timeless stories.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 9 [remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare, all is dark, listening to the ocean, no longer sky and home in rain] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

General Information on Gembun and Dua Anthologies

All our anthologies have 90 poems within.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun and dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Dua may not have been around as long as Gembun and Cherita, but it is part and parcel of a storytelling trio which perpetuates the stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

I have enjoyed the challenge of selecting and collating for this edition of the cherita and of any other new books from either our 1-2-3 press or our the empty press, and hope that you will find the poems within worthy of a campfire gathering and the sharing of meaningful stories.
If this new book or books strikes or strike a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. It would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms
www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

N.B.
Currently you receive ongoing news and updates from the 1-2-3 press [on and about the cherita, cherita, gembun and dua]. If you feel that you no longer wish to receive these update.

1 July 2024

Three unique short form genres created by ai li
that honour storytelling and keep its breath alive

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

a tree
# 8:2 of the cherita
edited by ai li

the water
gembun anthology 13
edited by ai li

no longer sky
dua anthology 8
edited by ai li

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 2900 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 1600 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor Rachna Singh called ‘insightful’.

I have three books for you for July. the cherita is joined by one gembun and a dua anthology for your holiday reading.

I know that I’ll be reading a tree, no longer sky and the water under shade in my tropical yard with this year’s Robin and Coal Tit fledglings. They will no doubt be as noisy as ever above my head in their attempt to draw me away from the pages in my hands. They know I’m in love with them.

With my dream yard’s verdant and evergreen foliage, these young ones are happy as Larry, safe from the predatory outside world. It’s their very own urban oasis, as well as for my other visiting feathered songbird friends.

They have designated me as their carer and general dogsbody, to ensure that their squirrel proof seed feeders of sunflower seeds, niger seeds and meal worms, their protected suet feeder of sunflower seeds, berries and mealworm flavours, an unsalted peanut butter feeder with alternating buggy, fruity and plain peanut flavours, finely chopped up fresh Genoa cake feeders are all regularly cleaned and well topped up 24/7 and all year round. Before I leave on my travels, extra fully filled feeders are hung from my tall trees to ensure nothing runs out in the event of any travel delays or mishaps while I am abroad. Their water bowls are placed where rain water can top them up naturally and also where my plant sprinklers can reach them should there be a sudden drought.

I can’t tell you how envious I am of them. I think I would like to come back as a songbird in my next lifetime and luxuriate in a doppelganger of an avian Shangri la.

*

a tree is our seventh book for 2024 of our eighth year. 88 editions of the cherita are now in existence and are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 13 Gembun Anthologies, and 8 Dua Anthologies, with more on their way.

a tree is our 88th book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

no longer sky, is our new Gembun Anthology 13 and the water, is our Dua Anthology 8 Both these eagerly awaited anthologies have launched alongside a tree.

This edition of a tree showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Denmark, Italy, India, Canada, Germany, Japan and China.

All future editions of the cherita, and all our various anthologies will now have 90 instead of 95 poems within. My plan is to slowly but surely ensure that all our publications adhere to 90 poems throughout. This will take some time to implement but the number of poems for every publication from the 1-2-3 press and the empty press will ultimately be the same throughout.

www.thecherita.com/bookshop/

a tree, currently 88th on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these editions are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes, and now arriving nowhere, my first cherita, gembun and dua book, have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ Larry Kimmel/ Audrey Quinn/ Maria Tosti/ Partha Sarkar/ Jan Stretch/ Nichael Cramer/ Leon Tefft/ Teri Messmer/ John Paul Caponigro/ Jackie Chou/ Joanna Ashwell/ Megha Anne Wilson/ Isabella Kramer/ Kathabela Wilson/ Ash Greenwood/ Nicholas Gentile/ Ceri Marriott/ kris moon kondo/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Barry J. Vitcov/ David Cox/ Pitt Büerken/ Leslie Umans/

Six sample Cherita from a tree :-

a brief moment

of being
side by side

dewdrops
on
pine needles

Jackie Chou

raintree

i’m again
under
your spell

but this time
i’m crying

ai li

tread lightly

leave no scars
on Mother Earth

nor footsteps
on the heart
of her children

Jan Stretch

the end
of a long
hot summer

the sycamore

undressing
in plain view

Kathabela Wilson

rain
on snow
makes fog

one blank page
turns

to another

John Paul Caponigro

spine of the night

i run my fingers
along your ridge

and feel
the stars
shudder

Ash Greenwood

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their timeless Cherita :

Larry Kimmel/ Maria Tosti/ Jan Stretch/ Nichael Cramer/ Jackie Chou/ Partha Sarkar/ Joanna Ashwell / Kathabela Wilson/ Ash Greenwood/ Isabella Kramer/ Leslie Umans/

a tree has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

the water, is our new Gembun Anthology 13 and it appears alongside a tree and no longer sky this month.

the water has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan and India.

Featured Poets as they appear in the water :-

Pitt Büerken/ ai li/ Eva Joan/ Orrin Préjean/ James Haddad/ Jan Stretch/ Joanna Ashwell/ Stella Damarjati/ D’ellen/ kris moon kondo/ Jackie Chou/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Kathabela Wilson/ Liz Goetz/ Lee Hudspeth/ Rita Melissano/ Peggy Castro/ Partha Sarkar/ Ceri Marriott/ R. Suresh Babu/

Here are six sample virgin gembun from the water :-

clouds
race past my window
to rain

somewhere else

Jan Stretch

so cold
so dark
the waterlilies

not yet blooming

Kathabela Wilson

behind the door
we celebrate
the passion

of the night

Eva Joan

the water

placidly runs
from bowl to bowl
people rush by

Pitt Büerken

flute notes

he paints
the air
with sound

D’ellen

tea ceremony

the air
now still
and scented

ai li

a gem has been awarded to the following writers and poets in the water for gembun that shone :

Pitt Büerken/ Orrin Préjean/ Jan Stretch/ D’ellen/ Kathabela Wilson/ Liz Goetz/ Joanna Ashwell/ Rita Melissano/ Partha Sarkar/ R. Suresh Babu/

no longer sky is our new Dua Anthology 8 which appears alongside a tree and the water this month.

no longer sky, has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Canada, India and Australia.

Featured Poets as they appear in no longer sky :-

ai li/ James Haddad/ Pitt Büerken/ Joanna Ashwell/ Kathabela Wilson/ Jan Stretch/ Vidya Premkumar/ Paulette Calasibetta/ Partha Sarkar/ Jackie Chou/ Madhuri Pillai/ Norma Bradley/ Taura Scott/ Radhamani Sarma/ Lee Hudspeth/ Rita Melissano/ Lynn Fayne/ Pete Taylor/ Liz Goetz/

Here are six sample virgin dua from no longer sky :-

the tunnel passed

rain again

Pitt Büerken

autumn leaves

and so do people

ai li

swaying pines

what’s left of time

Madhuri Pillai

seeing stars

i hang fairy lights

Taura Scott

moving upstairs

with the moon

Jackie Chou

at the precipice

my shadow falling off

Lee Hudspeth

a dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in the water for their moonbeams :

Joanna Ashwell/ Jan Stretch/ Jackie Chou/ Madhuri Pillai/ Taura Scott/ Partha Sarkar/ Lee Hudspeth/ Rita Melissano/ Pitt Büerken/ Kathabela Wilson/ Liz Goetz/ / Pitt Büerken/

This is July’s update on the cherita award :

I would like to share with you 6 cherita by Joanna Ashwell, our first Cherita Award recipient, from her book river lanterns, published by our 1-2-3 press, I hope these cherita will further inspire you, should you decide to submit to the cherita award.

there are enough

umbrellas today
to gather

the rain
to shape an ocean
beneath us

Joanna Ashwell
from river lanterns edited by ai li

in one breath

you were gone
packing away

all our dreams
a suitcase no longer
made for two

Joanna Ashwell
from river lanterns edited by ai li

already

we are through
another month

the light begins
to fold away
inside shadow

Joanna Ashwell
from river lanterns edited by ai li

you find me

once again
wrapped inside

a soliloquy
of rainfall
and breath

Joanna Ashwell
from river lanterns edited by ai li

I love

this time of year
the softening light

the rustle of leaves
returning colour
to the sky

Joanna Ashwell
from river lanterns edited by ai li

heart-note

touching
our breath

opening
a flower
to sky

Joanna Ashwell
from river lanterns edited by ai li

Here’s July’s 2024 update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 14-18 :

Anthology 14 should be next on the launch pad.

Anthology 18 has just joined the collection.

Anthologies 15 and 16 are now full and complete and awaiting a final look over by me before getting them ready for their individual launches.
Anthology 17 and now 18 meanwhile are steadily growing with the timeless gembun you have sent in. They are all emerging with strong story lines, as more and more timeless stories flow in.

All anthologies will now have 90 instead of 92 poems within.

I would like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 13 snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, rain song, ice storm, belonging and the water are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

My wish, as I have indicated before, is for the Gembun Anthology to become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Gembun genre with the gems from your writing. That has not changed.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

Here too, is July 2024’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 9-13 :

Anthology 9 should be out next, fingers crossed. I am slowly but surely catching up with the backlog.

Anthology 10 is now full and complete, and awaiting a final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 11-13 are coming along beautifully with your timeless stories.

All our anthologies will now have 90 instead of 92 poems. Please do keep writing and sending in your dua stories.

In the next few months or so, I will endeavour to launch the finished anthologies which I hope to launch alternating with the gembun anthologies, where possible, as you have all been saints with your inspirational patience.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Currently, 6 forthcoming anthologies of Dua are in the pipeline and it is up to the poets and writers if they wish for these anthologies to grow to the size of the Gembun Anthologies. Writing good Dua requires a different mental discipline to Gembun and Cherita but it can be a great workout for our brain cells. Your storytelling skills are kept honed when you write all these three unique short form poetry genres. Seriously though, can we resist a challenge to tell our stories in a timeless fashion? I know I can’t. All these three genres challenge me to become a better storyteller in 6, 4 and 2 lines.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 8 – remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare, all is dark, listening to the ocean and no longer sky are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

My wish, is for the Dua Anthology to also become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Dua genre with your dua moonbeams. That will not change for now.

Dua may not have been around as long as Gembun and Cherita [which share the same year of birth], but it is part and parcel of a storytelling trio which perpetuates the stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

I have enjoyed the challenge of selecting and collating for this edition of the cherita and hope that you will find the cherita within worthy of a campfire gathering and the sharing of meaningful stories.

If this new edition strikes a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms

www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 June 2024

Two fearless 27 year olds, going on 28 short form genres,
teaming up with one 2+ year old to keep storytelling alive

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

empty beach
# 8:1 of the cherita
anniversary edition
edited by ai li

the borderlands
one breath virgin cherita
the 14th exclusively cherita book
by ai li

arriving nowhere
one breath virgin cherita, gembun and dua
the first cherita, gembun and dua book
by ai li

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 2700 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 1500 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor Rachna Singh called ‘insightful’.

cherita and gembun enter their 28th year of being from 22 June 2024, with the cherita going into its 8th year of storytelling with 6 lines. I have here for you our anniversary edition for June.

There are now thousands of fine cherita poems out there in poetry land and hundreds of exciting gembun and dua too. None of these three genres remain stagnant, and they continue to amaze me with their steady and sturdy growth.

Storytelling has always been my personal way of honouring my ancestors, who, with their oral storytelling, passed their timeless tales down generations of my family. These stories continue to revive and sustain me during the uncertain times in my life, for which I am eternally grateful.

I am also grateful and indebted to all the fine storytellers who have been with us and lovingly embraced cherita, gembun and dua, in their more than generous quest to keep the flame of storytelling burning. Some have moved on, having told their stories, but the caravanserai of the faithful and ever-growing budding storytellers inspire me with their dedication and fervour to write about the everyday with ever fresh eyes.

Very few stories we normally hear or read about are rarely new, in my opinion, but it is our challenge to re-tell whatever tales we know or have heard before with a new twist to refresh them for our readers, and ultimately for ourselves. Any story can be born again using the right mindset and dedicated writing hands.

empty beach is our sixth book for 2024 and the first book going into our eighth year. 87 editions of the cherita are now in existence and are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 12 Gembun Anthologies, and 7 Dua Anthologies, with more on their way.

empty beach is our 87th book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

the borderlands, ai li’s fourteenth exclusively cherita book and arriving nowhere, her first cherita, gembun and dua book have also launched alongside empty beach.

This edition of empty beach showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, India, Canada, Japan, Australia, Bulgaria and Denmark.

www.thecherita.com/bookshop/

empty beach, currently 87th on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these editions are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ John Zheng/ Pitt Büerken/ Partha Sarkar/ Colleen M. Farrelly/ Jan Stretch/ Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/ kris moon kondo/ Teri Messmer/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Ram Chandran/ Stella Damarjati/ Patricia Wakimoto/ Tsanka Shishkova/ Taura Scott/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ Tim Dwyer/ Larry Kimmel/ Audrey Quinn/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Orrin Préjean/ John Paul Caponigro/ Joanna Ashwell/ Leslie Umans/ Megha Anne Wilson/ Joseph Witt/

Three sample Cherita from empty beach :-

when wind
blows the blues

across cotton fields

and the autumn moon
slide-steps
through clouds

John Zheng

a wet January

a damp start
to
the new year

all i can hear
is the sky

ai li

how long

will a tomorrow
remain alive?

as long as
a tree
breathes

Partha Sarkar

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their timeless Cherita :

John Zheng/ Partha Sarkar/ Larry Kimmel/ Leon Tefft/ Teri Messmer/ John Paul Caponigro/ Megha Anne Wilson/ Joanna Ashwell/ Stella Damarjati/ Jan Stretch/ Orrin Préjean/

empty beach has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

the borderlands which appears alongside empty beach and arriving nowhere, is ai li’s 14th book of exclusively 90 virgin cherita, published by the empty press.

Here are three sample cherita from the borderlands :-

to be carefree again

the wind
in my hair

with age and loss
in the borderlands
of lawlessness

ai li

writing down
another story

for the ghost
in me
in her

wedding gown

ai li

time warp

i’m walking
on moonlight

the movie theatre
playing
Road to Singapore

ai li

arriving nowhere which appears alongside empty beach and the borderlands, is ai li’s first cherita, gembun and dua book of 90 virgin poems, and published by the empty press

Here are six sample dua, cherita and gembun from arriving nowhere :-

after dark

my porch awake

ai li

the spelling
for melancholy
must be

autumn

someone’s
lying

ai li

perhaps

i should wear
red
today

ai li

windblown woodsmoke

i’m back
where i was
happiest

ai li

recorded birdsong

listening
to
my lost

yard
friends

ai li

holiday season

the fairly lights
banishing
the dark

for
now

ai li

This is June’s update for the cherita award :

Here are 2 cherita below, by me, from my first cherita, gembun and dua book, arriving nowhere, and one cherita from my fourteenth book of cherita, the borderlands, which I hope will further inspire you, should you decide to submit to the cherita award.

in the old house

a re-run
of dreams

mother and father
planning a life
after sunset

ai li
from arriving nowhere by ai li

visiting family
in the wooded
monastery

the hush

when they hear me
sweeping their tombstones

ai li
from arriving nowhere by ai li

nap time

over
i walk
into dusk

a lone hare
becoming evening

ai li
from the borderlands by ai li

Here’s June 2024’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 13-17 :

With a bit of luck, Anthology 13 should be out in July.

Anthologies 14-15 are now both full and complete and awaiting a final look over by me before getting them ready for their individual launches.

Anthologies 16 and 17 meanwhile are steadily growing with the timeless gembun you have sent in. They are all emerging with strong story lines, as more and more timeless stories flow in.

All anthologies will now have 90 instead of 92 poems within.

I would like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 12 snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, rain song, ice storm and belonging are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

*

Here too, is June 2024’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 8-13 :

Anthology 8 should be out in July fingers crossed.

Anthologies 9-10 are now full and complete, and awaiting their final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 11-13 are coming along beautifully with your timeless stories.

All our anthologies will now have 90 instead of 92 poems. Please do keep writing and sending in your dua stories.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 7 – remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain and something rare, all is dark and listening to the ocean are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on
www.thecherita.com/duaand on www.aili.co.uk/dua

My wish, as is for the Gembun, is for the Dua Anthology to also become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Dua genre with your dua moonbeams. That will not change for now.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

If this new edition strikes a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms

www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 May 2024

Two fearless 27 year old short form genres, going on 28, teaming up with one 2+ year old to keep storytelling alive

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

a path
#7:12 of the cherita
edited by ai li

listening to the ocean
dua anthology 7
edited by ai li

belonging
gembun anthology 12
edited by ai li

*
updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

For those of you who missed reading ai li’s essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua on Rhyvers and viewing her You Tube Cherita video interview for The Wise Owl by Neena Singh, for their special issue on Cherita, here are both links again below.

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 2600 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 1400 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor Rachna Singh called ‘insightful’.

Come June 22 and the cherita enters its eighth year of being.

Fresh from my healing stay in the spiritual landscape of Bhutan [I can still hear the colourful fluttering prayer and white mourning flags as I type this], I’ve decided to not only launch #7:12 a path, but was energised to finish the proof reading of belonging Gembun Anthology 12 and listening to the ocean Dua Anthology 7. It is therefore my pleasure to announce that both these anthologies are launching this month alongside the May edition of the cherita. We have 6 books [3 paperbacks and 3 kindles] to celebrate the cherita’s forthcoming anniversary in June, and all for your reading pleasure. Phew! I didn’t think I would make it but make it I did.

The poets involved with these two anthologies have been more than patient and I cannot thank them enough for their faith in me.

From now on, all books and anthologies will have 90 poems in each.

My red cord Buddhistic bracelet which was so carefully tied on my wrist by the monk at the Talo festival, Punakha, quietly unravelled when I woke after being home. Instead of burning it which I was supposed to do, I tied it around the clasped stone hands of one of my tall Javanese standing stone buddhas. I was also given a baby stupa [tsha tsha] which I have now placed on the folded palms of my seated stone buddha hidden underneath the dense foliage of my Chinese Camelia tree.

I may no longer be on Bhutanese soil but the prayers have followed me home, and are now safely ensconced around my Rousseau inspired dream yard. Hopefully, both these spiritual treasures will continue to protect my yard.

a path is our fifth book for 2024. 86 editions of the cherita are now in existence and available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, and so are 12 Gembun Anthologies, along with 7 Dua Anthologies, with more mushrooming.

a path is our 86th book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

listening to the ocean, our dua anthology 7 and belonging, our gembun anthology 12 have also launched alongside a path.

*
This edition of a path showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Germany, Canada, China, Bulgaria, Australia and Denmark.

There’s one noticeable change, which started with last October’s edition of the cherita, and which will be gradually be rolled out through to the gembun and dua anthologies. All future editions will now have 90 instead of 95 poems within. My plan is to slowly but surely ensure that all our publications adhere to 90 poems throughout. This will take some time to implement but the number of poems for every publication from the 1-2-3 press and the empty press will ultimately be the same throughout.

www.thecherita.com/bookshop/

a path, currently 86th on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these editions are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

I have edited this edition as I have all the other editions of the cherita, to be experienced two ways. It can be read as one storybook but also as an anthology of individual poems. Two reading experiences within one book, filled with stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ James Haddad/ Jackie Chou/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Kathabela Wilson/ Partha Sarkar/ Barry Vitcov/ John Zheng/ Teri Messmer/ Eva Joan/ Susan Rogers/ Colleen M. Farrelly/ Jan Stretch/ D’ellen/ Ram Chandran/ David Cox/ Patricia Wakimoto/ Tsanka Shishkova/ Nicholas Gentile/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ Tim Dwyer/ Sharon Hawley/ Gene Schultz/ Taura Scott/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Pitt Büerken/ Larry Kimmel/ Stella Damarjati/ Audrey Quinn/ John Paul Caponigro/

Three sample Cherita from a path :-

last rays

of an
afternoon…

first
sentence of
a fairy tale

Partha Sarkar

frog
jump

the moon
shakes
into

calligraphy

John Zheng

sitting

in my yard
to write
to you

with leaves
falling

ai li
*

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their timeless Cherita :

Partha Sarkar/ John Zheng/ Stella Damarjati/ Ram Chandran/

a path has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

belonging which appears alongside a path and listening to the ocean, is our eagerly awaited gembun anthology 12, published by the 1-2-3 press, now with 90 virgin gembun [and not 92 poems]

belonging has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Germany, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Featured Poets as they appear in belonging:-

Joanna Ashwell/ ai li/ Suraj Nanu/ Pitt Büerken/ Kathabela Wilson/ Ganesh R./ Pete Taylor/ Farah Ibrahim/ dan smith/ Tohm Bakelas/ Eva Joan/ Jan Stretch/ Orrin Préjean/ James Haddad/ Keitha Keyes/ Joanna Ashwell/ kris moon kondo/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Partha Sarkar/

a gem has been awarded to the following writers and poets in belonging for their gems :

Joanna Ashwell/ Suraj Nanu/ Pete Taylor/ Tohm Bakelas/ Partha Sarkar/ Jan Stretch/ Pitt Büerken/ Orrin Préjean/

Here are three sample gembun from belonging:-

morning prayers
a thousand eyes
without a blink

sunflower field

Suraj Nanu

he did not believe in angels

until a feather
woke him
with a kiss

ai li

end of the year

the owl
flies into
the next

Pitt Büerken

listening to the ocean which appears alongside a path and belonging, is also our eagerly awaited dua anthology 7, published by the 1-2-3 press, now with 90 virgin dua [and not 92 poems]

listening to the ocean has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Canada, Germany and Malaysia.

Featured Poets as they appear in listening to the ocean :-

Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ ai li/ James Haddad/ Radhamani Sarma/ Bryan Rickert/ Partha Sarkar/ Ganesh Rajgopal/ Joanna Ashwell/ Robert Frede Kenter/ Pitt Büerken/ Liz Goetz/ Farah Ibrahim/ Connie Pittman-Ramsey/ Pete Taylor/ Neena Singh/ Jan Stretch/ Tim Callahan/ Paulette Calasibetta/

A dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in listening to the ocean for their moonbeams :

James Haddad/ Radhamani Sarma/ Ganesh Rajgopal/ Joanna Ashwell/ Robert Frede Kenter/ Pitt Büerken/ Farah Ibrahim/ Kathabela Wilson/ Liz Goetz/ Partha Sarkar/ Neena Singh/ ai li/ Jan Stretch/ Paulette Calasibetta/

Here are three sample dua from listening to the ocean :-

the remains of old soldiers

can they still hear the wind ?

ai li

married till death says part

yet buried together says more

James Haddad

raindrops leaving

no trace of sky

Joanna Ashwell

This is May’s update on the cherita award :

Here are 3 cherita below by me from my own cherita and haiku book their wind songs which I hope will further inspire you, should you decide to submit to the cherita award.

on windswept nights
like these

my bamboo trees
and
i hear

our inner emptiness

ai li
from their wind songs by ai li

night
after night

i call you home

the catflap
sealed up
for years

ai li
from their wind songs by ai li

late night window

a
woman brushing
her long dark hair

without sound
without love

ai li
from their wind songs by ai li

Here’s May 2024’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 13-17 :

Anthologies 13-15 are now full and complete and awaiting a final look over by me before getting them ready for their individual launches.

Anthologies 16 and 17 meanwhile are steadily growing with the timeless gembun you have sent in.

From Anthologies 12 onwards, all books will now have 90 instead of 92 poems within. Anthology 11 will be the last with 92 gembun within. They are all slowly but surely, emerging with strong story lines, as more and more timeless stories flow in.

I would like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 12 snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home,bedtime story, rain song, ice storm and belonging are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

Here too, is May 2024’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 8-13 :

Anthology 13 has just joined the collection.

Anthologies 8-10 are now full and complete, and awaiting their final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 11-13 are coming along beautifully with your timeless stories.

From Anthology 7 onwards, all books will now have 90 instead of 92 poems as I try to ensure that all our books gradually keep to that number of poems. Please do keep writing and sending in your dua stories.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.
Currently, 6 forthcoming anthologies of Dua are in the pipeline and it is up to the poets and writers if they wish for these anthologies to grow to the size of the Gembun Anthologies. Writing good Dua requires a different mental discipline to Gembun and Cherita but it can be a great workout for our brain cells. Your storytelling skills are kept honed when you write all these three unique short form poetry genres. Seriously though, can we resist a challenge to tell our stories in a timeless fashion? I know I can’t. All these three genres challenge me to become a better storyteller in 6, 4 and 2 lines.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 7 – remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain and something rare, all is dark and listening to the ocean are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

My wish, as is for the Gembun, is for the Dua Anthology to also become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Dua genre with your dua moonbeams. That will not change for now.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

I have enjoyed the challenge of selecting and collating for this edition of the cherita and hope that you will find the cherita within worthy of a campfire gathering and the sharing of meaningful stories.

If this new edition strikes a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms

www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 April 2024

A fearless short form trio made up of two 27 year olds and one 2 year old
giving your storytelling longevity

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

the river
#7:11 of the cherita
edited by ai li

ice storm
gembun anthology 11
edited by ai li

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

For those of you who missed reading ai li’s essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua on Rhyvers and viewing her You Tube Cherita video interview for The Wise Owl by Neena Singh, for their special issue on Cherita, here are both links again below.

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 2500 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 1300 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor called ‘insightful’.

This new edition #7:11 of the cherita – the river and ice storm, our gembun anthology 11, were both launched from Bumthang in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

I started my spiritual journey from Thimphu after a short stay in Delhi, where the view from our rooftop was Humayun, the second Mughal Emperor’s tomb [I wrote a cherita, gembun, dua, tanka and haiku whilst in Delhi [you can read these poems on our Announcements page posted on15 March 2024] before flying close to Everest and the Himalayas on my way to Paro]. History was all around us and there was no shortage of wonder for the jet lagged traveller in me.

From Thimphu, our journey took us to Punakha, the ancient capital of Bhutan, Gantey, Bumthang and then culminating in Paro. I encountered snowstorms, power cuts, deep impenetrable mists on the mountain passes, then sunny days followed by rain storms. The high altitude did make any slight exertion on my part, a daily struggle, but the rewards of seeing tall wild Indian silk trees with blood red large blossoms, even taller wild red and white rhododendrons and magnolias high up the mountains, then walking on lush carpets of freshly fallen pine leaves with its intoxicating scent of pristine forests plus the bonus of numerous small baby stupa shrines [called tsha tsha but which I affectionately called zsa zsa [these were individual miniature terracotta stupas will a tiny roll of prayers inserted at its base, then sealed and painted before being left, often in sacred caves or by a mountain road side adorned by colourful prayer flags].

I am still gradually processing all the experiences from this trip, some of which included the first 7th century Buddhist temple Kyichu Lhakhang, the sin-cleansing Tamshing Monastery [I crossed my fingers tightly when I was there], the lighting of 108 butter lamps, the 16th-century Pangri  Zampa, [now a monastic training school for astrologers], a 17th century first fortress monastery Simtokha Dzong, then there was Chimi Lhakhang, [the auspicious fertility monastery built in 1499], and finally a sheer cliff face climb of over 4 hours on our last but one day, up Taktsang Goemba or the Tiger’s Nest, built in 1692, and which has an altitude of 2,950m [9,678ft], passing a purifying water powered prayer wheel, a 60 metres waterfall, and a sacred pool. A number of Tibetan saints visited Taktsang for meditation and which included Milarepa [1040-1123] from the 11th century.

This 11th century sacred monastery, perched on rocks sits 900 metres above the valley floor. No photography was allowed but I was able to mentally store all images.

I chose historic Bumthang to launch both books because, not only does it house does it house a large number of sacred sites and monasteries, but Guru Rinpoche, who was said to have been born from a lotus, healed a Bhutanese King here in the 8th century. The King them embraced Buddhism and this then spread throughout the country.

It was not difficult to have been mesmerised by Bumthang’s vast and breathtaking four valleys [Chokhor, Tang, Chhume and Ura] and although this area is apparently less visited, it is in my opinion, the spiritual and cultural heartland of the kingdom. The potent images of millet, buckwheat, potato fields and slope climbing apple orchards that meet deep ancient pine forests will forever stay with me along with an inexhaustible number of ancient temples, nunneries, dzongs and former watch towers, almost all of which were perched on high elevations.

The magical and spiritual power of Bhutan will linger in my consciousness, long after this trip, along with the smiling warmth of its people. These qualities, absorbed during my stay have without a doubt, deeply enhanced my sense of inner peace. The Spirit of Healing is most definitely alive and well, and comfortably at home there.

the river is our fourth book for 2024. 85 editions of the cherita are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, and so are 11 Gembun Anthologies along with 6 Dua Anthologies, with more on their way.

the river is our 85th book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

ice storm, our gembun anthology 11 has also launched alongside the river.

This edition of the river showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Japan, Canada, Bulgaria, Australia, Spain and India.

There’s one noticeable change, which started with last October’s edition of the cherita, and which will be gradually be rolled out through to the gembun and dua anthologies. This edition, as with the previous edition, will now have 90 instead of 95 poems within. My plan is to slowly but surely ensure that all our publications adhere to 90 poems throughout. This will take some time to implement but the number of poems for every publication from the 1-2-3 press and the empty press will ultimately be the same throughout.

the river, currently 85th on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these editions are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ Ash Greenwood/ Kathabela Wilson/ Pitt Büerken/ Sigrid Saradunn/ kris moon kondo/ James Haddad/ Jan Stretch/ Jackie Chou/ Teri Messmer/ Lee Hudspeth/ Diane Funston/ Liz Goetz/ Tsanka Shishkova/ Stella Damarjati/ Barry Vitcov/ D’ellen/ Nicholas Gentile/ Steven Bruce/ Partha Sarkar/ Orrin Préjean/ John Zheng/ Eva Joan/ Larry Kimmel/ Lisa Ann Sparaco/

Three sample Cherita from the river :-

where does pink live
when not in the sky

perhaps in the blush
of a child’s laughter
or the heartbeat of a butterfly

maybe … pink lives in us

Jan Stretch

a bridge
remembers

where

we
first
held hands

Barry Vitcov

rain
patters against
the cold window

i close my eyes

and dream
of sun

Teri Messmer

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their timeless Cherita :

Jan Stretch/ Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/ Lee Hudspeth/ Barry Vitcov/ Steven Bruce/ Teri Messmer/John Zheng/ Partha Sarkar/

the river has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

ice storm which appears alongside the river, is our eagerly awaited gembun anthology 11, published by the 1-2-3 press, of 92 virgin gembun.

ice storm has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Australia, India, Japan, Canada and Malaysia.

Featured Poets as they appear in ice storm:-

Joanna Ashwell/ ai li/ Pitt Büerken/ Stella Damarjati/ Jharna Sanyal/ kris moon kondo/ Jackie Chou/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Prashanth V/ Suraj Nanu/ Connie Pittman-Ramsey/ Eva Joan/ Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ Ganesh R/ Patricia Smith/ Keith Keyes/ Nicholas Gentile/ Robert Frede Kenter/ Pete Taylor/ dan smith/ Tohm Bakelas/ Farah Ibrahim/ Ceri Marriott/ James Haddad/ Partha Sarkar/

A gem has been awarded to the following writers and poets in all is dark for their moonbeams :

Joanna Ashwell/ Pitt Büerken/ kris moon kondo/ Kathabela Wilson/ Robert Frede Kenter/ Pete Taylor/ Tohm Bakelas/ Suraj Nanu/

Here are three sample gembun from ice storm :-

trees

scratching
the sides
of abandoned houses

Robert Frede Kenter

i walked all night long
searching for inspiration
beneath city lights

San Francisco

Tohm Bakelas

lighthouse

no one here
now but
the dark

ai li

This is April’s update on the cherita award :

Here are 3 cherita below by me from my cherita and haiku book say autumn which I hope will further inspire you, if you decide to submit to the cherita award.

the hometown

that time forgot
hot pies cooling
on window sills

the absence
of blackbirds

ai li
from say autumn by ai li

moon

in the water
if only i could swim

in this
make believe world
of reflections

ai li
from say autumn by ai li

talk of death

i draw
a coffin

and watch
ink
dye in rain

ai li
from say autumn by ai li

Here’s April 2024’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 12-17 :

Anthologies 12-15 are now full and complete and awaiting a final look over by me before getting them ready for their individual launches.

Anthology 12 should be the next gembun anthology to emerge after gembun anthology 11.

Anthologies 16 and 17 meanwhile are steadily growing with the timeless gembun you have sent in.

I would like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.
Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1–11 – snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, rain song and ice storm are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

Here too, is April’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 7 – 12 :

Anthology 12 has just joined the collection.

Anthologies 7-9 are now full and complete, and awaiting their final proof reading by me.
Hopefully, I should be able to launch Dua Anthology 7 soon.

Anthologies 10 and 11 are coming along beautifully with your timeless stories.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.
Currently, 5 forthcoming anthologies of Dua are in the pipeline and it is up to the poets and writers if they wish for these anthologies to grow to the size of the Gembun Anthologies. Writing good Dua requires a different mental discipline to Gembun and Cherita but it can be a great workout for our brain cells. Your storytelling skills are kept honed when you write all these three unique short form poetry genres. Seriously though, can we resist a challenge to tell our stories in a timeless fashion? I know I can’t. All these three genres challenge me to become a better storyteller in 6, 4 and 2 lines.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 6 – remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare and all is dark are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

My wish, as is for the Gembun, is for the Dua Anthology to also become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Dua genre with your dua moonbeams. That will not change for now.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

If this new edition strikes a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms

www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

15 March 2024

postcards from delhi never sent today :

dua

delhi dusk

as day tiptoes away

ai li

cherita

the view we share

of
Humayun’s Tomb
from the rooftop

pigeon
and i

ai li

gembun

marigolds
around my neck
and yours

this in India

ai li

haiku

i gatecrash
into history
India Gate

ai li

tanka

the thousands
of stars
that are out
are in
these evening saris

ai li

1 March 2024

A fearless short form trio made up of two 27 year olds and one 2 year old
giving your storytelling longevity

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

a stone thrown
#7:10 of the cherita
edited by ai li

*

all is dark
dua anthology 6
edited by ai li

*

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

For those of you who missed reading ai li’s essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua on Rhyvers and viewing her You Tube Cherita video interview for The Wise Owl by Neena Singh, for their special issue on Cherita, here are both links again below.

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 2400 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 1200 views the last time I had a quick look, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor called ‘insightful’.

With the Year of the Dragon now upon us for the next twelve months, I would like to hopefully inspire you to grow your cherita writing skills even more, and take your imagination into the higher realms of storytelling.

Here are six amuse bouche of my published cherita :

our neighbour

drying
her saris

from rajasthan
her homesickness
has colour

ai li
from how soft the light

kimono clad

for a night
of camellias

and haiku
the air scented
with stars

ai li
from dream merchant

quiet streets

then
a

late
night
radio

ai li
from how soft the light

the heating is off

in my room
and the window

open
i have become
winter

ai li
from night rain

these tired wings

have flown for love
through rain

now folded into
the loneliness
of evening

ai li
from night rain

daybreak

her bedside lamp
is still on

two rose petals
fallen
in the silence

ai li
from dream merchant

a stone thrown is our third book for 2024. 84 editions of the cherita are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, and so are 10 Gembun Anthologies along with 6 Dua Anthologies, with more on their way.

a stone thrown is our 84th book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

all is dark, our dua anthology 6 has also launched alongside a stone thrown.

This edition of a stone thrown showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Japan, India, Canada, Germany, Bulgaria and Australia.

www.thecherita.com/bookshop/

a stone thrown, currently 84th on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these editions are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ Bryan Rickert/ Ash Greenwood/ kris moon kondo/ Liz Goetz/ Jackie Chou/ James Haddad/ Larry Kimmel/ Kathabela Wilson/ Teri Messner/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Curt Linderman/ John Zheng/ Diane Funston/ Joanna Ashwell/ Partha Sarkar/ Jan Stretch/ Pitt Büerken/ Lynne Jambor/ Tsanka Shishkova/ Barry Vitcov/ Stella Damarjati/ Lisa Ann Sparaco/ Ceri Marriott/

Three sample Cherita from a stone thrown :-

creeping
into my dreams

every
brief entanglement
in my life

constantly dancing

kris moon kondo

the iron vase full

crashed
to
the floor

rusty
with stories

James Haddad

full moon

high
above

the forest
of
stars

Joanna Ashwell

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their timeless Cherita :

James Haddad/ kris moon kondo/ Tsanka Shishkova/ Kathabela Wilson/

a stone thrown has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

all is dark which appears alongside a stone thrown, is our eagerly awaited dua anthology 6, published by the 1-2-3 press, of 92 virgin dua.

all is dark has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Germany, Japan and Canada.

Featured Poets as they appear in all is dark :-

ai li/ Ganesh Rajgopal/ Vidhi Ashar/ Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ Ceri Marriott/ Farah Ibrahim/ James Haddad/ Radhamani Sarma/ Bryan Rickert/ Orrin/ jharna sanyal/ Pitt Büerken/ kris moon kondo/ Shrehya Taneja/ Stella Damarjati/ Robert Frede Kenter/ Pete Taylor/ Joanna Ashwell/ Liz Goetz/ Partha Sarkar/

A dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in all is dark for their moonbeams :

Vidhi Ashar/ James Haddad/ Ganesh Rajgopal/ Shrehya Taneja/ Pitt Büerken/ Stella Damarjati/ Robert Frede Kenter/ Kathabela Wilson/ Joanna Ashwell/ Liz Goetz/ Partha Sarkar/

Here are three sample dua from all is dark:-

paper boats

how quickly you forgot me

Vidhi Ashar

prelude

the anchor of you

Farah Ibrahim

a deserted house

the rumors take over

Ganesh Rajgopal

This is March’s update on the cherita award :

Here are 3 cherita below by me from my book paper flowers which I hope will further inspire you, if you decide to submit to the cherita award.

your flower garden
now a myth

once peonies attracted
the phoenix and
a dragon sipped

from seven lakes

ai li
from paper flowers by ai li

another lump
of sugar
in her tea

mother’s faraway friend

her lipstick now
in this poem

ai li
from paper flowers by ai li

a room
with
empty chairs

who got up first

to leave
the room ?

ai li
from paper flowers by ai li

Here’s March 2024’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 11-17 :

Anthologies 11-15 are now full and complete and awaiting a final look over by me before getting them ready for their individual launches.

With a bit of luck, Anthology 11 should be the next anthology to appear.

Anthologies 16 and 17 meanwhile are steadily growing with the timeless gembun you have sent in.

I would like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 10 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, and rain song] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website

www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

Here too, is March’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 7-11 :

Anthologies 7-9 are now full and complete and awaiting their final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 10 and 11 are coming along beautifully with your timeless stories.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Currently, 5 forthcoming anthologies of Dua are in the pipeline and it is up to the poets and writers if they wish for these anthologies to grow to the size of the Gembun Anthologies. Writing good Dua requires a different mental discipline to Gembun and Cherita but it can be a great workout for our brain cells. Your storytelling skills are kept honed when you write all these three unique short form poetry genres. Seriously though, can we resist a challenge to tell our stories in a timeless fashion? I know I can’t. All these three genres challenge me to become a better storyteller in 6, 4 and 2 lines.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 6 – remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare and all is dark are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

My wish, as is for the Gembun, is for the Dua Anthology to also become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Dua genre with your dua moonbeams. That will not change for now.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

If this new edition strikes a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms

www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 February 2024

My two unique 27 year old short form poetry genres
have gone on to become a unique fearless trio with dua

Cherita [22 June 1997]
Gembun [12 June 1997]
Dua [4 March 2022]

running
#7:9 of the cherita
edited by ai li

*
rain song
gembun anthology 10
edited by ai li

*
updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 2100 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 1100 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor called ‘insightful’.

Can it really be February already?

The Chinese New Year arrives on the 10 February with a fiery dragon descending from the sky to claim its next twelve months on earth.
I would like to wish you all fresh starts coupled with long term successes in whatever you and your hearts chose to do.

running is our second book for 2024. 83 editions of the cherita are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, and so are 10 Gembun Anthologies along with 5 Dua Anthologies, with more on their way.

running is our 83rd book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

rain song, our gembun anthology 10 has also launched alongside running.

This edition of running showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Japan, Germany, India and Australia.

There’s one noticeable change, which started with October’s edition of the cherita, and which will be gradually be rolled out through to the gembun and dua anthologies. This edition, as with October’s edition, will now have 90 instead of 95 poems within. My plan is to slowly but surely ensure that all our publications adhere to 90 poems throughout. This will take some time to implement but the number of poems for every publication from the 1-2-3 press and the empty press will ultimately be the same throughout.

www.thecherita.com/bookshop/

running, currently 83rd on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these editions are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes have all been added to my writing in one breath series
.
I have edited this edition as I have all the other editions of the cherita, to be experienced two ways. It can be read as one storybook but also as an anthology of individual poems. Two reading experiences within one book, filled with stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ Ash Green/ Sigrid Saradunn/ kris moon kondo/ Bryan Rickert/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Robert Horrobin/ Eva Joan/ Kathabela Wilson/ Liz Goetz/ Laughing waters/ Jackie Chou/ John Zheng/ James Haddad/ Teri Messmer/ Larry Kimmel/ Partha Sarkar/ Sandip Chauhan/ Pitt Büerken/ Stella Damarjati/ Joanna Ashwell/ Rita Melissano/

Three sample Cherita from running :–

a grain
of sand

on this scorched soil

our footprints
meet
once again

Laughing waters

it comes back to me again

the end and the beginning
over the ocean
from the top of the stairs

his sunset …your moonrise
simultaneously spoken

Kathabela Wilson

a white line of foam

where the river meets
the sea

a memory
of glass polished
to sand

Robert Horrobin

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their timeless Cherita :

Bryan Rickert/ Robert Horrobin/ Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Partha Sarkar/ Larry Kimmel/

running has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.

rain song which appears alongside running is our eagerly awaited gembun anthology 10, published by the 1-2-3 press, of 92 virgin gembun

rain song, has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, The Philippines, Germany, India, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Bulgaria, Malaysia and Italy.

Featured Poets as they appear in rain song :-

Joanna Ashwell/ ai li/ Madeleine Basa Vinluan/ Pitt Büerken/ Kathabela Wilson/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Jackie Chou/ Maricris Cabrera/ Richa Sharma/ Patricia Prime/ Sherry Grant/ Partha Sarkar/ kris moon kondo/ Larry Kimmel/ Richard Matta/ Radhamani Sarma/ Eva Damarjati/ Stella Damarjati/ Allyson Chen/ Connie Pittman-Ramsey/ M.J.Iuppa/ Tsanka Shishkova/ Ceri Marriott/ Jerome Berglund/ Farah Ibrahim/ Prashanth V/ Angela Giordano/ Jharna Sanyal/ Orrin/ James Haddad/ Ron Scully/

a gem has been awarded to the following writers and poets in rain song for their moonbeams :

Joanna Ashwell/ Madeleine Basa Vinluan/ Kathabela Wilson/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Jackie Chou/ Maricris Cabrera/ Sherry Grant/ kris moon kondo/ Richa Sharma/ Pitt Büerken/ Larry Kimmel/ Allyson Chen/ Ceri Marriott/ Jerome Berglund/ Farah Ibrahim/ Prashanth V/ Angela Giordano/ Jharna Sanyal/ Orrin/ James Haddad/ Partha Sarkar/

Here are three sample gembun from rain song:-

into
a world
where you are

plum scent

Richa Sharma

my shelter

i found you were
part storm,
too

Allyson Chen

winter
birch
tree

morning star

Jerome Berglund

This is February’s update on the cherita award :

Here are 3 cherita below by me from my book the promise of rain which I hope will further inspire you, if you decide to submit to the cherita award.

a piece

of driftwood
at sunset

if only
i had
a destination

ai li
from the promise of rain by ai li

i remember
i remember

love
in the depths
of winter

red red roses

ai li
from the promise of rain by ai li

how old you have become

slower with wit
clumsier with poise

but you dined
with Noel Coward
and tangoed in dreamtime

ai li
from the promise of rain by ai li

Here’s Febuary 2024’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 11-17 :

Anthologies 15, 16 and 17 have now joined the growing Gembun Anthologies.

Anthologies 11-13 are now full and complete and awaiting a final look over by me before getting them ready for their individual launches.

Anthologies 14-17 meanwhile are alive and steadily growing with the timeless gembun you have sent in.

In the next few months or so, I will endeavour to launch the finished anthologies which I hope to launch, alternating with the dua anthologies, where possible, as you have all been saints with your inspirational patience.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 10 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, and rain song] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website

www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

Here too, is February’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 6-11 :

Anthology 11 has joined the our anthology line-up.

Anthology 6 will launch after Gembun Anthology 10, if all goes well.

Anthologies 7-9 are full and complete and awaiting their final proof reading by me.

Anthology 10 is coming along beautifully with your timeless stories.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.
Anthologies 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 [remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain and something rare] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle.

All 5 Dua Anthologies – remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain and something rare are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

If you have written dua that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

My wish, as is for the Gembun, is for the Dua Anthology to also become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Dua genre with your dua moonbeams. That will not change for now.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

I have enjoyed the challenge of selecting and collating for this edition of the cherita and hope that you will find the cherita within worthy of a campfire gathering and the sharing of meaningful stories.

If this new edition strikes a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms
www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

1 January 2024

The Cherita and The Gembun
[22 June 1997] & [12 June 1997]
are both now 27 Years Old
with an ebullient Dua at their heels

nomad
#7:8 of the cherita
edited by ai li

*
something rare
dua anthology 5
edited by ai li

*

updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

For those of you who missed reading ai li’s essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua on Rhyvers and viewing her You Tube video interview for The Wise Owl by Neena Singh, for their special issue on Cherita, here are both links again below.

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now 2000 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 900 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor called ‘insightful’.

Happy New Year to all our poets and readers. May 2024 be one of fresh hopes and new beginnings for all of us.

I hope you have all had time to recharge over the holidays. I know I over-indulged and rested more than usual, bracing muse and I for 2024. My new year resolution will be one of giving myself more poetic challenges for 2024, and of launching more storytelling books on Amazon whose distribution powers cover so much of the globe.

nomad is our first edition for 2024. 82 editions of the cherita are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, and so are 9 Gembun Anthologies along with 5 Dua Anthologies, with more on their way.

nomad is our 82nd book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

something rare, our dua anthology 5 has also launched alongside nomad to welcome in a new year for us all.

This edition of nomad showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, India and Sri Lanka.

There’s one noticeable change, which started with October’s edition of the cherita, and which will be gradually be rolled out through to the gembun and dua anthologies. This edition, as with October’s edition, will now have 90 instead of 95 poems within. My plan is to slowly but surely ensure that all our publications adhere to 90 poems throughout. This will take some time to implement but the number of poems for every publication from the 1-2-3 press and the empty press will ultimately be the same throughout.

nomad, currently 82nd on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these editions are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

I have edited this edition as I have all the other editions of the cherita, to be experienced two ways. It can be read as one storybook but also as an anthology of individual poems. Two reading experiences within one book, filled with stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

Cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition :-

ai li/ Larry Kimmel/ Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Joanna Ashwell/ Debbie Strange/ Ash Green/ Bryan Rickert/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ Jan Stretch/ Pete Taylor/ Pitt Büerken/ Stella Damarjati/ kris moon kondo/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Partha Sarkar/ Radhika De Silva/ Teri Messmer/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Laughing waters/ Lee Hudspeth/ Robert Horrobin/ James Haddad/

Three sample Cherita from nomad :-

the tilt
of feet

a
step
away

from flight

Joanna Ashwell

strip light
coming on
at dusk

driving through
this

one horse town

ai li

view of the sky

I will always
be here waiting

to open
a window
for you

Jackie Chou

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition for their timeless Cherita :

Pitt Büerken/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ / Joanna Ashwell/ Jan Stretch/ / Kathabela Wilson/ kris moon kondo/ Rita Melissano/ Jackie Chou/ Lee Hudspeth/ Robert Horrobin/ Laughing waters/

nomad has been edited to be experienced two ways. It can be read as a storybook and as an anthology of individual poems.*

something rare which appears alongside nomad, is our belated dua anthology 5, published by the 1-2-3 press, of 92 virgin dua.

something rare, has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Canada, India, Australia, Trinidad and Malaysia.

Featured Poets as they appear in something rare :-

James Haddad/ ai li/ Sharon Hawley/ Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ Richard Matta/ Pitt Büerken/ Larry Kimmel/ Lynne Jambor/ Connie Pittman-Ramsey/ Jackie Chou/ Richa Sharma/ Partha Sarkar/ Rie Sheridan Rose/ Radhamani Sarma/ Eva Damarjati/ Stella Damarjati/ Vijay Prasad/ Orrin/ Gillena Cox/ Norma Bradley/ Vidhi Ashar/ Tim Gardiner/ Ceri Marriott/ Shrehya Taneja/ Sandra Regan/ Farah Ibrahim/ Bryan Rickert/ jharna sanyal/ Ganesh Rajgopal/ Joanna Ashwell/ Sigrid Saradunn/

A dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in the rain for their moonbeams :

James Haddad/ Sharon Hawley/ Pitt Büerken/ Taura Scott/ Lynne Jambor/ ai li/ Larry Kimmel/ Partha Sarkar/ Norma Bradley/ Radhamani Sarma/ Taura Scott/ Kathabela Wilson/ Sandra Regan/ Bryan Rickert/ jharna sanyal/ Orrin/

Here are three sample dua from something rare:-

can the drums of war

be silenced by love ?

Rie Sheridan Rose

my departed parents at the table

i serve Russian tea

Norma Bradley

an old door

that never closed

Kathabela Wilson

This is December’s update on the cherita award :

Here are 3 cherita below by me from my book their wind songs which I hope will further inspire you, if you decide to submit to the cherita award.

old
rattan chair

when i sit

i give
this empty room
sound

ai li
from their wind songs by ai li

the one opening

the courtyard door
is not really there

i
am dreaming
in shot silk

ai li
from their wind songs by ai li

my night kitchen

one bowl
a pair of chopsticks

one spoon
i am
still here

ai li
from their wind songs by ai li

Here is December’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14:

Anthology 10 will be next in line now that Dua Anthology 5 has successfully launched.

Anthology 14 has now joined the growing Gembun Anthologies.

Anthologies 11 and 12 are now both full and complete and awaiting a final look over by me before getting them ready for their individual launches.

Anthologies 12 and 13 will now have 90 instead of 92 poems within. They are both slowly but surely, emerging with strong story lines, as more and more timeless stories flow in.

I would like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Meanwhile, do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 9 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home and bedtime story] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

Here too, is December’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 :

Anthology 6 should be out after Gembun Anthology 10 if all goes well.

Anthology 7 is complete and awaiting its final proof reading by me.

Anthologies 7, 8, 9 and 10 will now have 90 instead of 92 poems as I try to ensure that all our books gradually keep to that number of poems.

Please do keep writing and sending in your dua stories.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

Anthologies 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 [remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain and something rare] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle.

All five Dua Anthologies – remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain and something rare are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

If this new edition strikes a chord with you, please feel free to review, comment on Amazon or give feedback directly to me. Many thanks.

ai li
editor

creator of cherita, gembun, dua
and of 19 other unique and original linked forms
www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis

N.B.
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