hide and seek - the cherita

1 July 2025

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]

hide and seek
cherita 100
edited by ai li

*

behind the window
dua anthology 15
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 4800 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 3100 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’.

hide and seek is our 100th 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.

hide and seek showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Australia, India, Canada and Germany.

hide and seek, currently 99th 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/ C. X. Turner/ connor orrico/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Taura Scott/ Kathabela Wilson/ Sharon Hawley/ Teri Messmer/ Peter Jastermsky/ Karina Klesko/ Anthony Lusardi/ Madhuri Pillai/ Roy Kindelberger/ Partha Sarkar/ Larry Kimmel/ Lee Hudspeth/ Jackie Chou/ Ceri Marriott/ Rita R. Melissano/ Nicholas Gentile/ Robert Horrobin/ Norma Bradley/ Jan Stretch/ Joanna Ashwell/ Leon Tefft/ Eva Joan/ john zheng/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

feel
good
sun

the cancer

comes
later

ai li

today

I watched a spider rush
to the captured fly
and wrap it in a shroud

Fleur De Lis
on the radio

Larry Kimmel

waiting for her text . .

my box of fortune cookies
broken but uneaten

first break of day
two new irises
in her funeral vase

Anthony Lusardi

what remains
are dreams
unfulfilled

what remains
are questions

unanswered

Eva Joan

inconclusive

at the edge
of the lake

a phone
just out
of reach

Peter Jastermsky

mostly we would drive

a delta
of snowbirds

flying
toward
summer

Robert Horrobin

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

Anthony Lusardi/ C. X. Turner/ Larry Kimmel/ Partha Sarkar/ Rita R. Melissano/ Robert Horrobin/ Karina Klesko/ Peter Jastermsky/ john zheng/

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

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