Poetry Corner: New Forms

POETRY CORNER

– 10/12/16

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

♣ We are excited to introduce an interesting new form on our Poetry Corner today. Cherita [pronounced CHAIR-rita] is the Malay word for story or tale. It consists of a single stanza verse, followed by a two-line verse, and then finishing with a three-line verse.The cherita tells a story.

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Little pup (Photo – Stevie Strang).

Larry Kimmel

a somber dog

greets me as if to say
“have you heard any news of Jim?”

his favorite
now marked
by memorial marble

Larry Kimmel lives in western Massachusetts. His “shards and dust” provides an introduction and examples of cherita, including this one. He has published 10 books of poetry of his own as well as short fiction, as well as being a publisher of other poets and Winifried Press. This cherita’s provocative little story leads us to the basic mysteries of change, how we perceive life and leads to the telling of more stories.

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Party (Photo – Sonny Premo).

Art Kingston

the tree house I built

full of her young years
swinging and sliding

reduced now from two storeys
the hollowed out shell
housing our compost

Robert Kingston is an Essex, United Kingdom based poet. He writes and publishes Japanese short form poetry, including haiku, senryu, haibun and tanka. Having been inspired by a prompt on the Tanka Poets on Site on Facebook, he attempts a new form to him, cherita. He says “The poem below tells its own story”.

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Stucco ruin (Photo – Stevie Strang).

Elizabeth Alford

half-demolished

the childhood home
I used to know

how familiar
these crumbling steps…
how different I am now

Elizabeth Alford says “My fiancé and I recently roadtripped from Michigan to our home in Hayward, California. The cherita form combined with the day’s prompt word “demolition” made me think of the skeletal remains of houses I saw in some of the more run-down areas of Detroit where he grew up”.

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> We welcome and encourage your response especially in the form of short poems. You may reply by leaving a comment below.

Kathabela says: “Cherita began in 1997, created by UK poet and artist, ai li, in memory of her grandparents who were raconteurs extraordinaire. It evolved from the thousand year tradition of tanka, and haiku. More samples and information. and thoughts on this form by Larry Kimmel can be found here.

All these forms of micropoetry are jewel like literary treasures. They carry so much meaning and beauty in small spaces, like our Poetry Corner!”