25 Cherita

     I am very grateful that ai li invited me to submit for a special feature on cherita (pronounced ‘CHAIR-ee-tah) in Atlas Poetica. Cherita is a narrative and lyrical six-line poem invented by ai li in 1997. Though it was challenging for me to write a cherita since it was the first time I heard about it, I ended up being one of the 25 poets who were featured. That was a big surprise to me! To be honest, I wasn't sure of what I was doing. I just read the guidelines, several examples, and gave it a shot. Instinctively, I wrote like I was writing a tanka with one extra line.

death anniversary
sprouting weeds
on mother’s burial lot
maybe today
I’ll find a memory
to miss her

     To read more about "25 Cherita," edited and introduced by ai li, visit the following:

http://atlaspoetica.org/?p=1640

http://atlaspoetica.org/?p=1667

http://atlaspoetica.org/?page_id=1654 to read ’25

     Since cherita's inception, it has grown tremendously. Poets such as ai li, Larry Kimmel, Sheila Windsor, and other cherita poets on Atlas Poetica have experimented on this form. You can read their written work on their respective websites and on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/cherita?f=tweets&vertical=default

http://larrykimmel.tripod.com/cheritatwo.htm

http://www.winfredpress.com/the-cherita-form/