a last goodbye - the cherita

1 August 2026

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]

a last goodbye
cherita 113
edited by ai li

in the rain
gembun anthology 23
edited by ai li

dusk
ta da anthology 3
edited by ai li

updates on all forthcoming dua, gembun and ta da 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 7300 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 4600 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’.

For your August reading, I have 3 paperbacks and 3 kindles – a last goodbye, Book 113 of the cherita, along with in the rain, gembun anthology 23, and dusk, ta da anthology 3.

There are now 113 anthologies of the cherita, along with 23 Gembun Anthologies,19 Dua Anthologies, and 3 Ta Da anthologies, with more coming your way. All these anthologies are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

a last goodbye is our Book 113 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.

a last goodbye showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Iran, India, Croatia and Canada.

a last goodbye Book 113, 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 join my writing in one breath series.

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 join my writing in one breath series.t

I have edited this anthology 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/ Roy Kindelberger/ Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Lee Hudspeth/ Pegah Rahmati Nezhad/ Teri Messmer/ Joanna Ashwell/ Peter Jastermsky/ Nicholas Gentile/ Leon Tefft/ Penny Lowery/ Larry Kimmel/ Stephanie Zepherelli/ K. Suresh Babu/ Diane Funston/ Jim Niffen/ Partha Sarkar/ Jan Stretch/ Ceri Marriott/ Amir Kapetanović/ Katherine E Winnick/ James Haddad/ Sharon Hawley/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

fresh snowfall
in a forest
scarred by trenches

another war
proclaims its innocence

the endless white of soldier ghosts

Lee Hudspeth

a wild bird seen

on
my autumn walk

i hear a cry
but it was
only me

ai li

evening coffee
all cinnamon

swirled
with chocolate
and melting cream

softening the shadows

Joanna Ashwell

seeking
an alternative
ending

all the places
we’d rather

not go

Peter Jastermsky

she coyly
promises

maybe

but her eyes
whisper
eternity

Leon Tefft

golden chrysanthemums
bud in my garden

yellow have bloomed

rust will
soon
begin

Diane Funston

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

Lee Hudspeth/ Leon Tefft/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Joanna Ashwell/ K. Suresh Babu/ Partha Sarkar/ Peter Jastermsky/

in the rain is our gembun Anthology 23, which appears alongside a last goodbye, Book 113 of the cherita, and dusk, our ta da anthology 3.

in the rain showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Australia and India.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

Pitt Büerken/ ai li/ Joanna Ashwell/ Keith Keyes/ Lakshman Bulusu/ James Haddad/ Paulette Calasibetta/ Partha Sarkar/ Eva Joan/ Norma Bradley/ Andrew Jones/ Michael H. Brownstein/ Kathabela Wilson/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Jackie Chou/ Vidya Premkumar/ Nicholas Gentile/ Taura Scott/ Lee Hudspeth/ Priyanka Aravind P./ Gene Schultz/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Katherine E Winnick/

Six sample gembun from in the rain, our gembun Anthology 23 :-

the failing light

someone
on the mountain
waving a lantern

ai li

above the garden
the heavy fragrance
of lilacs

time for a Gembun

Eva Joan

wondering

why the butterfly
lives by
my window

Katherine E Winnick

gilded
morning
shifting

shadows

Paulette Calasibetta

snow trees

touch the sky
a patio
for heaven

Lakshman Bulusu

winter night

a story unfolding
with one star
after another

Joanna Ashwell

a gem has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this anthology for timeless gembun :

Joanna Ashwell/ Paulette Calasibetta/ Nicholas Gentile/ Pitt Büerken/ Priyanka Aravind P./ Partha Sarkar/ Jackie Chou/ Eva Joan/ Katherine E Winnick/

dusk is our ta da anthology 3 which appears alongside a last goodbye, Book 113 of the cherita, and in the rain, gembun anthology 23.

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

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

Kathabela Wilson/ Taura Scott/ Gene Schultz/ ai li/ Jackie Chou/ Radhamani Sarma/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Sharon Hawley/ Joanna Ashwell/ Roy Kindelberger/ Eva Joan/ Jan Stretch/ Lee Hudspeth/ Norma Bradley/ Partha Sarkar/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Katherine E Winnick/ Ceri Marriott/ Jeff Ryan/ Liz Goetz/

Six sample ta da from the noise, our ta da Anthology 2 :-

love on
a rooftop

over and
over again

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni

muddy shores
no walking off

the dirt I have
on me

Dan Schwerin

just a little day
a crack

in the sidewalk
shaped like a heart

Kathabela Wilson

sunrise
to sunset

hydrangeas
bloom

Lakshman Bulusu

sitar music
from the ramparts

her beaded sari
yesterday’s ghost

ai li

a
purple sky

he sings
me home

Taura Scott

a fan fare has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this anthology for timeless ta da :

Larry Kimmel/ Dan Schwerin/ Taura Scott/ Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/

This is August’s update on the cherita award :

Here are 3 published cherita below by Larry Kimmel from two of our cherita anthologies no footsteps and the aroma and available in paperback and kindle from

www.thecherita.com/bookshop/ :

cherita

is
the breath

of
a story
made concrete

ai li
from the intro of the word healers

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 below will further inspire you, should you decide to submit your virgin cherita for the cherita award. We also 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?

“advanced aging”

something nice
about that, like

ice sliding
across a
hot grill

Larry Kimmel
from no footsteps
the cherita anthology #5-12

I serve you tea

as I never did
in life

can you smell
the lilacs, hear
the honey bees ?

Larry Kimmel
from no footsteps
the cherita anthology #5-12

midnight

a
whistler

and
his
footsteps

Larry Kimmel
from the aroma
the cherita anthology #5-7

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.

CURRENT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AUGUST 2026

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.

*Please use our standard email submissions forms for each of our 4 genres and do not lump them together under one submission email. Unfortunately, failure to do so often results in a slower response back from me as I read, consider and file all the 4 genres separately and any deviations get placed under a different file.*

*
General Information on the Gembun, Dua and Ta Da Anthologies

All our anthologies have 90 poems within.

I am endeavouring to launch the finished and checked anthologies, as you have all been saints with your inspirational patience.

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

My wish, as I have indicated before, is for all Anthologies to become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Gembun, Dua and Ta Da 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 and Ta Da may not have been around as long as Gembun and Cherita, but they are part and parcel of a storytelling quartet that perpetuates the stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

Please use our standard submission emails for all 4 of our genres as I consider them separately. Failure to do so can cause a delay in replying to your submissions.

Cherita, Gembun, Dua and Ta Da all require very different mental disciplines when writing them well. When the right discipline is used to pen these genres, the results are simply breathtaking.

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