the evening rush - the cherita

1 October 2025

4 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]
Ta Da [b. 15 May 2022]

the evening rush
cherita 103
edited by ai li

*

a dream flickers
dua anthology 16
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 5400 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 3500 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’.

Book 103 of the cherita – the evening rush is for your October 2025 reading and a dream flickers is our Dua Anthology 16, both of which are imbued with 90 virgin poems.

There are now 103 anthologies of the cherita, and they are all available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 19 Gembun Anthologies, and 16 Dua Anthologies, with more coming your way.

the evening rush is our Book 103 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 evening rush showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, India, Bulgaria and Lithuania.

the evening rush, currently Book 103, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do ai li’s personal ongoing writing in one breath series of 33 virgin Cherita, Gembun, Dua, Ta Da, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly ai li’s 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.

# For all acceptance letters for Cherita before 7 April 2025, for our forthcoming Anthologies – Books 103, 104, 105 and 106, please be aware that your acceptance letters should have read ‘for the fourth quarter 2025 and not ‘for the first quarter of 2026’. Your accepted cherita will now appear much earlier. Please accept my sincere apologies. I will have to have a serious word with my Dyslexia. #

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

ai li/ Joanna Ashwell/ Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Pitt Büerken/ Leslie Umans/ Laughing Waters/ Dennis Owen Frohlich/ C. X. Turner/ Ceri Marriott/ Nicholas Gentile/ Teri Messmer/ Partha Sarkar/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Taura Scott/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Sharon Hawley/ Shilpa Bharti/ Larry Kimmel/ Adelaide B. Shaw/ Roy Kindelberger/ Eva Joan/ Tsanka Shishkova/ Arturas Silanskas/ Sigrid Saradunn/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

someone’s
waiting for me
downtown

i arrive
in rain

and in love

ai li

where have
they all gone ?

i watch
people
passing by

café window

Arturas Silanskas

winter
rain

falling

prophets
from
above

Barry J. Vitcov

beside
the koi pond’s
bench

my sorrow whispered

to
the wind

Nicholas Gentile

fog
drapes
the park

footsteps vanish
in the cool air

yesterday’s sigh

C. X. Turner

paper factory

the loneliness
of 3 a.m.

amber streetlights
wash
the empty street

Dennis Owen Frohlich

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

Dennis Owen Frohlich/ Teri Messmer/ C. X. Turner/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Sharon Hawley/ Taura Scott/ Kathabela Wilson/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Jackie Chou/

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

a dream flickers is our new Dua Anthology 16 and it appears alongside the evening rush Book 103 of the cherita, this month.

a dream flickers showcases 90 fine dua from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Canada, India, Italy and France.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :

ai li/ Pitt Büerken/ Taura Scott/ Karina Klesko/ Jan Stretch/ Norma Bradley/ nivy n/ Partha Sarkar/ nisa/ Michael H. Brownstein/ Kathabela Wilson/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Oana Maria Cercel/ Timothy Daly/ James Haddad/ Shravan/ Shilpa Bharti/ Laughing Waters/ Ganesh R/

a dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this anthology for dua that shone :

Karina Klesko/ Norma Bradley/ Partha Sarkar/ Pitt Büerken/ Michael H. Brownstein/ James Haddad/ nivy n/ Jan Stretch/

Six sample virgin dua from a dream flickers, dua anthology 16 :-

falling petals

on the way home

ai li

feeling a new beginning

daffodil leaves

Norma Bradley

and again

i become a phoenix

Partha Sarkar

looong life

a chance to be kinder

nivy n.

a dream

star by star

Karina Klesko

losing you

breath by breath

Jan Stretch

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 ta da
and of 18 other unique and original linked forms

www.thecherita.com
storyteller oasis