Cherita (pronounced CHAIR-rita) is a linked poetry form of one-, two-, and three-line stanzas.
Cherita is the Malay word for “story” or “tale”.
A cherita consists of a one-line stanza, followed by a two-line stanza, and then finishing with a three-line stanza. It can either be written solo or by up to three partners.
The cherita tells a story. It was created by ai li (A UK poet and artist) on June 22, 1997 in memory of her grandparents who were raconteurs extraordinaire. It was also inspired by Larry Kimmel’s sensitive recognition of a shorter form contained within the opening three-verse stanza of ai li’s LUNENGA, which was created May 27, 1997.
The cherita arose out of the English-language haiku and tanka tradition, but is more anecdotal, or nano-narrative, in nature than are the “momentary” haiku and the more lyrical tanka, though it is easily adaptable to lyrical expression. It is imagistic and depends on conciseness and suggestion for its effect.
Pasted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherita
The “Cherita” is a creation of ai li, the founding editor of “still: home for short verse,” and now its independent e-zine offshoot “dew-on-line.”
Cherita [pronounced CHAIR-rita] is the Malay word for story or tale. A Cherita consists of a single
stanza verse, followed by a two-line verse,
and then finishing with a three-line verse.
It can be written solo or with up to three partners.
It is not titled.
The Cherita tells a story.
after seeing you off
taking the path along
the canal
a rustle of
leaves
underfoot
Copyright © Larry Kimmel 2007 (was presented centered)
Pasted from http://larrykimmel.tripod.com/cherita.htm
Restated specifications:
A 6 line poem in three separate stanzas, a single line, a couplet, then a tercet.
Each stanza is a complete strophe
The line lengths are at the poets’ discretion
The poem should be presented, centered and untitled.
It should be imagistic and concise.
My Example
