Poetry Corner: Flying

POETRY CORNER

– 7/18/18

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

We fly home tomorrow from our visit to Singapore, the homeland of ai li, who in 1997 created the six line poetic story form: cherita. We are honored to begin our Corner today with a beautiful cherita written for us by her. Then we travel through variations on the theme of ‘Flying’ by other fine poets showing the great flexibility and strength of cherita to tell each of our stories. And we finish with a cherita written especially for us by Larry Kinmel, who ai li calls the godfather of cherita. I hope these wonderful offerings inspire you to write your own cherita stories in the comment box below.

~ Kathabela​​​​

a​i li

f​lying in

to mother’s spiritual home
ghost of incense

i am sleepless
in this city of old souls
and i’m ten again​

f​or my mother who is sorely missed and for the singapura of my childhood​

Ο Ο Ο

Pat Geyer

one more

long plane trip…
caravan of dreams

flies to the mystery
of a continent
filled with intrigue​​

Ο

chasing

around
a pegasus…

up then down
following a dream
i fly out of my bed

Ο Ο Ο​

Michael ​H. Lester

If only I had wings

I would fly like Icarus
too close to the sun

and fall gratefully
into the arms
of the deep blue sea

Ο Ο Ο

Chrissi Villa

another plane

taking off
to a new horizon

I lose count
of the journeys
I was too afraid to take

Chrissi’s Cherita first appeared in the cherita vol 1 : 5 oct 2017 FALL

Ο Ο Ο

​​Jackie Chou

bottom of a charred stump

bare branches
shaped like a bird in flight

the pelican’s story
waits to be told
in another still life

Ο Ο Ο

Maureen Sexton

I used to dream
about my daughter flying

she would rise from her wheelchair
float up in the sky
and fly away into the clouds

now, I just want her to come back

Ο Ο Ο​

​Peter Jastermsky

a dream of flying

follows a dream
of falling

the mist in the valley
meets us
halfway

Ο Ο Ο​

​Larry Kimmel

I doze
and levitate tree high

over the old once family farm

those picnics
how the tables groaned
those far ago fond faces

Ο

ai li who lives in the U.K. and Singapore, created the cherita in honor of her grandparents who were great storytellers. Born in June, 1997, this new short form is 21 years old. ai li is founding editor of the cherita journal. She encourages us all to tell the many stories of our lives in this powerful, concise, and creative way.

Pat Geyer, in New Jersey, says: “My friend flew to Istanbul. She often goes there and I wrote a cherita for her. Then, this morning, half awake, I heard a Cooper’s Hawk outside my window. I flew out of bed to get some photos of the hawk. Got them!”

Michael ​H. ​Lester​, who lives in in Los Angeles, California says: “I flew spy missions in the far east as a Chinese linguist. Enemies came to attack us but American jets intercepted them in ​airspace over Taiwan strait, circa 1968.

Chrissi Villa, in North Highlands, California says: “When I was younger, I was afraid of adventures, taking risks, and adjusting to new places. Now I have a strong desire to explore the world.”

Jackie Chou​ says of her cherita “is a poem juxtaposing the bird image created by the branches and a real bird–a pelican–which appears in several of Robert Stewart’s other paintings. The two take flight, both literally and in the imagination of the poet. Yet, ironically, their movements are somehow halted as they are objects in ‘still’ lives. I live in Pico Rivera, California.​”​

Maureen Sexton, of Western Australia​ says​: “​My daughter, Kathy Adair, was an inspiration to everyone who met her. She loved music, art, and always lit up a room with her infectious smile. She won several art awards and now has an art award named after her. The ‘Kathy Adair Art Award’ is awarded to the most improved artist with disabilities in Western Australia. She achieved so much in her life. She was non-verbal and confined to a wheelchair. I know she was frustrated by her limitations, but never allowed it to hold her back. Kathy passed away on July 30, 2016, at age 39. Her memory will live on forever.​”​

​Peter Jastermsky ​lives in Irvine, California. He says “There is a tribe that encourages its children to have a dream about flying if they’ve dreamt of falling, Most of us know the experience of “falling” while drifting off to sleep, and the subsequent jumping, or attempting to take flight, in order to compensate for the sensation.​”​

​Larry Kimmel, of Greenfield, Massachusetts muses: “​I don’t know if levitating counts as flying, but from boyhood on I’ve always dreamed of that. Still on my bucket list. Maybe if I meditate well and long enough…or space out on this stir of maple leaves.” See Larry Kimmel on cherita.

Ο Ο Ο

♣ You can add your contribution to our Poetry Corner in the form of a cherita, in our comment box below​.