1 October 2026

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

Cherita [created on 22 June 1997]
Gembun [created on 12 June 1997]
Dua [created on 4 March 2022]
Ta Da [created on 15 May 2022]

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her window
cherita 115
edited by ai li

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day ends
cherita and haiku anthology
by ai li

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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 8000 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 4900 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’.

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For your October reading, I have 2 paperbacks and 2 kindles – her window, Book 115 of the cherita and day ends, my fifth one breath book of 90 virgin cherita and haiku.

There are now 115 anthologies of the cherita, along with 23 Gembun Anthologies, 20 Dua Anthologies, and 4 Ta Da anthologies, with more coming your way. All these anthologies are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

her window is our Book 115 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.

 

her window showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Japan, Germany, Canada, Pakistan and Croatia.

her window Book 115, 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/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Joanna Ashwell/ Taura Scott/ Sharon Hawley/ Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/ Jim Niffen/ Patricia Allen Smith/Partha Sarkar/ Teri Messmer/ Kazuaki Wakui/ Katherine E Winnick/ Eva Joan/ Jan Stretch/ D’ellen/ Hifsa Ashraf/ Lee Hudspeth/ Nicholas Gentile/ Senka Slivar/ Jennifer Gurney/ Rachael Thorp/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Tim Callahan/ Lakshman Bulusu/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

raining pear blossoms

paving
a white path

is it mother
flakes falling
from her hair?

Jackie Chou

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days
keep moving
faster

time

becomes
my enemy

Eva Joan

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loving through grief

when
did i stop

reading
your
horoscope

Jan Stretch

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a favour

i ask
of you

be loud
be very loud
the window is open

ai li

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a wall

of oil lamps
after dark….

the necklace
on my newly
wed grandmother

Partha Sarkar

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geisha
on rice paper

her life story held

in a thimble
of
sake

D’ellen

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

Kathabela Wilson/ D’ellen/ Katherine E Winnick/ Jim Niffen/ Joanna Ashwell/ Senka Slivar/ Jan Stretch/ Jim Niffen/

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day ends is my fifth one breath cherita and haiku book, which appears alongside her window, Book 115 of the cherita.

day ends showcases a total of 90 virgin one breath cherita and haiku.

Three virgin cherita and three virgin haiku from day ends, my fifth one breath cherita and haiku book:-

smell the smoke

it is autumn come
the voice said

i look up
and
leaves fall

ai li

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day ends
the silence
within

ai li

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i’m passing through with no footprints

ai li

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a golden train

of some maharaja
were there dancing girls

from the past
losing sequins
i just found ?

ai li

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the open gold locket

one image
missing

the other
has been lonely
for years

ai li

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chasing shadows in life’s cul-de-sac

ai li

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This is October’s update on the cherita award :

Here are 6 virgin cherita below by ai li’s day ends, her fifth one breath cherita and haiku book, 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

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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?

hat shop

in the quiet
of a 50s afternoon

a white creation
in the window
with ostrich feathers

ai li
from day ends
her fifth cherita and haiku book

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my search

for self
and identity

interrupted
by the muezzin’s
call

ai li
from day ends
her fifth cherita and haiku book

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i am so far away

from the harbour
grandfather

sailed into
to seed
his family tree

ai li
from day ends
her fifth cherita and haiku book

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unaware

of your passing
overseas

i garden in old tweed
the cold
in my bones

ai li
from day ends
her fifth cherita and haiku book

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after all

that has been said
and done

the water is still rising
i am in the sampan
alone with your shoes

ai li
from day ends
her fifth cherita and haiku book

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breath

on
window glass

my initials
out dreaming
touching yours

ai li
from day ends
her fifth cherita and haiku book

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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.

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CURRENT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES OCTOBER 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.*

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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.

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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

copyright © ai li 2026