time in, time out - the cherita

1 September 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]

time in, time out
cherita 114
edited by ai li

always night
dua anthology 20
edited by ai li

mountains sit
ta da anthology 4
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 7600 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 4700 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 September reading, I have 3 paperbacks and 3 kindles – time in, time out, Book 114 of the cherita, always night, dua anthology 20, along with mountains sit, ta da anthology 4.

There are now 114 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.

time in, time out is our Book 114 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.

time in, time out showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Canada and Japan.

time in, time out Book 114, 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/ Joanna Ashwell/ Peter Jastermsky/ Leon Tefft/ Larry Kimmel/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Jackie Chou/ Lee Hudspeth/ Kathabela Wilson/ Stephanie Zepherelli/ K. Suresh Babu/ Diane Funston/ Teri Messmer/ Partha Sarkar/ Katherine E Winnick/ Ceri Marriott/ Jan Stretch/ Jeff Ryan/ Daniel W. Brown/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Jim Niffen/ Norma Bradley/ Sharon Hawley/ Taura Scott/ Kazuaki Wakui/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

finding

my way
round

a new world
i didn’t
ask for

ai li

removing
the silence
we listen

in its place
a pocket dark

and deep

Peter Jastermsky

grandad
finds
peace

packing
his pipe

with memories

Stephanie Zepherelli

the garden dies
and is

reborn

that’s all
you need
to know

Larry Kimmel

river
dance

skaters gliding

to the music
of
time

Ceri Marriott

when clouds
hide the moon

i lift her veil

stars
clustered
in her eyes

K. Suresh Babu

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

Joanna Ashwell/ Peter Jastermsky/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Daniel W. Brown/ Barry J. Vitcov/ Norma Bradley/ Diane Funston/ Stephanie Zepherelli/

always night is our dua Anthology 20, which appears alongside time in, time out, Book 114 of the cherita, and mountains sit, our ta da anthology 4.

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

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

ai li/ Pitt Büerken/ Michael H. Brownstein/ Bryan Rickert/ S. Radhamani/ Partha Sarkar/ Joanna Ashwell/ nivy/ Daniel W. Brown/ D’ellen/ Kathabela Wilson/ Katherine E Wennick/ Gene Schultz/ Taura Scott/ Timothy Daly/ Norma Bradley/ Sharon Hawley/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Jan Stretch/ Rachael Thorp/ Lee Hudspeth/ Laughing waters/ Michael Lee Johnson/

Six sample dua from always night, our dua Anthology 20 :-

old calendar

visiting persons bygone

S. Radhamani

even at the empty feeder

chickadee song

Bryan Rickert

war no saplings

left standing

Daniel W. Brown

god never lights a lamp

after sunset

Partha Sarkar

buttering toast

i thought of you again

Jan Stretch

lily white

its perfume

ai li

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

Partha Sarkar/ Joanna Ashwell/ Bryan Rickert/ Kathabela Wilson/ Gene Schultz/

mountains sit is our ta da anthology 4 which appears alongside time in, time out Book 114 of the cherita, and always night, dua anthology 20.

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

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

Kathabela Wilson/ ai li/ Sharon Hawley/ Taura Scott/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Lakshman Bulusu/ Joanna Ashwell/ Partha Sarkar/ Katherine E Winnick/ Ceri Marriott/ Liz Goetz/ Patricia Allen Smith/ Jan Stretch/ D’ellen/

Six sample ta da from mountains sit, our ta da anthology 4 :-

broken clocks
he collects

all
that silence

ai li

the deep
slumber

of
a broken leg

Partha Sarkar

baroque
flute

so long ago
so modern

Sharon Hawley

rebirth
awaits

spring
equinox

Taura Scott

jacaranda
bloom

her heart
forever young

Lakshman Bulusu

smoky turquoise
to cerulean silk

blouses i find left
in mother’s closet

Kathabela Wilson

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

Jackie Chou/ Kathabela Wilson/ Partha Sarkar/ D’ellen/ Jan Stretch/ D’ellen/ Joanna Ashwell/

This is September’s update on the cherita award :

Here are 3 published cherita below by Larry Kimmel from two of our cherita anthologies she saw and ghost writer 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?

naked
by candlelight

penning
her
salacious

memoirs

Larry Kimmel
from she saw
the cherita anthology #7:5

the night is vast
and starry

a neighbor’s porchlight

goes off …
goes on …
goes off

Larry Kimmel
from ghost writer
the cherita anthology #6:9

you and me

with a pizza
between us

and the town lights
across the river
… remember?

Larry Kimmel
from ghost writer
the cherita anthology #6:9

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 SEPTEMBER 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