tiny raindrops - the cherita

1 December 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]

tiny raindrops
cherita 105
edited by ai li

*

leaving
ai li’s second book of ta da

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 5700 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 3700 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 105 of the cherita – tiny raindrops is for your December 2025 reading and leaving is ai li’s second book of ta da, both of which are imbued with 90 virgin poems.

There are now 105 anthologies of the cherita, and they are all available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 20 Gembun Anthologies, and 16 Dua Anthologies, with more coming your way.

tiny raindrops is our Book 105 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.

tiny raindrops, currently Book 105, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do ai li’s personal ongoing writing in one breath series of 36 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, my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes, and arriving nowhere, my first cherita, gembun and dua book, along with another night and leaving, my two ta da anthologies now 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. #

I have edited tiny raindrops 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 editio

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

ai li/ Larry Kimmel/ Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Sharon Hawley/ Teri Messmer/ Roy Kindelberger/ Adelaide B. Shaw/ Jackie Chou/ Lee Hudspeth/ Eva Joan/ Nicholas Gentile/ Partha Sarkar/ Pitt Büerken/ Dennis Owen Frohlich/ Jan Stretch/ Liz Goetz/ Daniel W. Brown/ Ceri Marriott/ Timothy Daly/ Pauline Dutton/ Tsanka Shishkova/ Sigrid Saradunn/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

on the edge
of the cliff

comes
a
breeze

Roy Kindelberger

after the funeral
your name
dropped

like a pebble
in a pond

i look for the ripple

Teri Messmer

glow worm

the return
of
my lonely

childhood
evening

Partha Sarkar

across the Mojave

yellow sand dunes
horizon to horizon

a vision
between empty
and angels

Daniel W. Brown

a
love
triangle

my heron
me

and plenty of fish

Jan Stretch

found again
what i lost

echoes of laughter

a fisherman
casts
his net

Eva Joan

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

Larry Kimmel/ Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Sharon Hawley/ Liz Goetz/ Teri Messmer/ Daniel W. Brown/ Tsanka Shishkova/

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

leaving is ai li’s second nook of ta da and it appears alongside tiny raindrops, Book 105 of the cherita, this month.

leaving showcases 90 of ai li’s virgin ta da.

Six sample virgin ta da from leaving, ai li’s second book of ta da :-

alone
at dusk

my thoughts
nude

ai li

an open window
with escaping blues

the room
dark

ai li

my very first
lighthouse

a new
kind of torch

ai li

writing
to heal

me
and my world

ai li

always alone
when it rains

the sound
of hollow

ai li

playing
solitaire

house
ghost

ai li

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 our 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