still yours - the cherita

1 May 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]

still yours
cherita 110
edited by ai li

*

magic show
gembun anthology 22
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 6500 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 4300 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 110 of the cherita – still yours is for your May 2026 reading and magic show is our gembun anthology 22, both of which are imbued with 90 virgin poems.

There are now 110 anthologies of the cherita, and they are all available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 22 Gembun Anthologies,18 Dua Anthologies and our first Ta Da anthology, with more coming your way including the forthcoming ta da anthologies.

still yours is our Book 110 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.

still yours showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, Australia, India, Canada, Germany, Iran and Japan.

still yours Book 110, 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.t

I have edited still yours 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 :-

Kathabela Wilson/ ai li/ Nicholas Gentile/ Keitha Keyes/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Partha Sarkar/ Jan Stretch/ Jackie Chou/ Gene Schultz/ Isabella Kramer/ Larry Kimmel/ Bryan Rickert/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Ceri Marriott/ Rachael Thorp/ James Haddad/ Joanna Ashwell/ Taura Scott/ Sharon Hawley/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Robert Horrobin/ Pegah Rahmati Nezhad/ Eva Joan/ Kazuaki Wakui/ Teri Messmer/ Roy Kindelberger/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

the call
of a blackbird
a little hoarse

your name
repeated

on my lips

Jackie Chou

her only makeup
a tint of chestnut
gifted by the sun

her serene face

holding the hush
of nightfall

Nicholas Gentile

the big tree
in my
backyard

has become
old and hard

a new table

Gene Schultz

white pelicans
sitting on a log
on the Mississippi

in their own world

my dreams
afloat with theirs

Lakshman Bulusu

a wildflower
in the cracks
how easy

it is too fall
back in love

with you

Bryan Rickert

this
itch

to
know
my anima

a rash embrace

Larry Kimmel

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

Kathabela Wilson/ Nicholas Gentile/ Partha Sarkar/ Isabella Kramer/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Joanna Ashwell/ Pegah Rahmati Nezhad /Ceri Marriott//

magic show is our gembun anthology 22 and it appears alongside still yours, Book 110 of the cherita, this month.

magic show showcases 90 virgin gembun from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, Canada and Australia.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

ai li/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Sharon Hawley/ Joanna Ashwell/ Kathabela Wilson/ Jackie Chou/ Dennis Owen Frohlich/ Pitt Büerken/ Katherine E Winnick/ Andrew Jones/ Nicholas Gentile/ Paulette Calasibetta/ Eva Joan/ Jan Stretch/ Norma Bradley/ Michael H Brownstein/ Partha Sarkar/ Orrin Préjean/ Keitha Keyes/

Six sample virgin gembun from magic show, our gembun anthology 22 :-

outpost

the
mosquito
arias

ai li

night-watch
beginning
at dusk

scattering silver

Joanna Ashwell

no aroma
the blossoms
in the garden

still opening

Lakshman Bulusu

the beauty

of a rose
the sting
of a thorn

Paulette Calasibetta

my eyes
follow
my ears

song sparrow

Jan Stretch

a bucket

down in the well
bringing flowers
of lost youth

Norma Bradley

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

Kathabela Wilson/ Joanna Ashwell/ James Haddad/ Norma Bradley/ Lakshman Bulusu/

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.

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