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Hello, Poets! Welcome to Meeting the Bar (MTB). For those who are new, MTB prompts
are about specific form and technique. Please read the prompt carefully!

Today’s prompt is to write a cherita, pronounced CHAIR-rita.

Laura hosted with a cherita prompt in November 2023, but I think we can revisit it. We’re still in the dog days of summer, and it seems an effort some days to do anything. The cherita is not very complicated. A poet friend posted some of her cherita on Bluesky recently, and that has made me want to try the form again. I like that it is not about syllables, that the form flows, and that there’s a story in the short poem.

ai li created the cherita poetry form in June 1997, so the form is now 29 years old. The official guidelines:

“Cherita is the Malay word for story or tale. A cherita consists of a single stanza of a one-line verse, followed by a two-line verse, and then finishing with a three-line verse.”

The order may also be inverted or turned upside-down: 3-2-1.

A cherita is always untitled and without rhyme.

You can find many examples of the form on ai li’s site: https://www.thecherita.com/
And here: Cherita Knowhow: https://www.thecherita.com/cherita-knowhow/

FOR THIS PROMPT

Write a cherita in either 1-2-3 form or 3-2-1 form
OR write a double cheria where the second part mirrors the first:
1-2-3 then 3-2-1, as we did for Laura’s prompt.

Need additional inspiration? Here are a few ideas: a childhood event, a long-lost love, a movie, a book, a day at the beach, climate change, a dream. Remember you are telling a story in brief, imagist terms.

For those who like an ekphrastic challenge. You may write a Cherita that responds to this image:

Margret Hofheinz-Döring, “Schulweg,” 1953

Please follow the prompt! We are writing Cherita only for this prompt! Do not write a different type of poem for this prompt. You may write a single or double Cherita.

If you’re new, here’s what to do!

*Write a Cherita in response to the challenge.
*Enter a link for your poem (not your website) and your name by clicking Mr. Linky below.
*Check the little box to accept the use/privacy policy.
*You will find links to other poets, and more will join so please do check
back later to read their poems.
*Read and comment on other poets’ work– we all come here to have our poems read.
*Please link back to dVerse from your site/blog.