cherita two

CHERITA

'A narrative short verse form derived from the haiku and tanka traditions'

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Ten more cherita by ai li

old woman at the door

collecting for
hungry ghosts

the shroud
she wears
for shawl

_________

black limo on a wet day

passing
the empty florist

colours
deepening
on stone

___________

christmas eve...

the presents wrapped
a cup of camomile tea

anonymous call
your eyes
avoiding mine

__________

a passing phase...

the drawers full
of lingerie

he orders
by phone
asking for black lace

__________

tiara in a pawn shop

the missing ticket
with the sacked companion

autumn dusk
she sits in a ballgown
fraying at the hem

_________

the hush in a library

a fly
on the woman's nose

to sneeze
or not
to sneeze

_________

gemstone on her fat finger

the colour of
dark ocean

her face
in the obituary column
lost at sea

_________

4 pm

a cuckoo clock
bringing forest into afternoon

the crumbs i leave
sitting on
their own shadows

________

missing child on a sunday morning

the priest
finds a clean frock to visit in

shadowed path
the broken doll
no one sees

_________

another rainbow

this one is quiet
for the hospice

the face
at the window
already not there

______________________________

Six more cherita by ed markowski

vanity mirror

private schools, credit cards,
a priviledged past

everytime she does
a line
her eyes close
_________

small-town jail

on the wall
of my cell

a calendar
"compliments of
the rotary club

_________

september 11, 2007

he's still loose
& he's still president

here in this yard
the apple tree she planted before she left
is heavy with fruit

________

august 8th, yellow moon above the ferris wheel

midgets on stilts
wobble down the midway

in a tent
behind the house of mirrors
the fat lady insults a fat lady

________

walking home from the factory

two empty bottles on
her porch steps

a brand & style
i'll
never afford

__________

snow choked roads
                                      
& another foot
to fall by dusk
                                       
on a pure white day
in a black wool cape, my ex shows up
to borrow a space heater

______________________________














______________________

'Blue Star' - a cherita collaboration
between Ron Moss (Tas.) Sheila Windsor (U.K.) 
Hortensia Anderson (U.S.A.) 
30/7/'05 - 10/8/2005

first blue star

the lake sinks deeper
and smudges the setting sky

tussock grass
their ochre hue awash
with a farmhouse light /rm

thoughts of home

table laid with white linen
the crumble golden

in a voice melodic
and strange to my ear
i call down the sun /sw

rising moon

darkness leans
against the window panes

a Satie Sarabande
in harmony
with fresh-cut flowers /ha

frozen potato blooms

the field shimmers
with freshly ploughed soil

at dawn
the newly hung bed-sheets
soften mother's shadow /rm

beneath the eaves

silken threads
twist and turn a fly

sleeping bag
rank and unravelled
this too is taken away /sw

black clouds disperse

up above a world
that has turned to dusk

in the hard sand
i write haiku, read and erased
only by the sea /ha

________________

Ten more cherita by Larry Kimmel

Thanksgiving Day

candles and wine
a 3lb turkey

snow falling
through maple trees
a man and a woman...

__________

it's her wedding tomorrow

she comes to me in the night
saying

"this
will have to last
for a long time"

__________

hoarfrost

10,000 apple drops
lie in the untended orchard

in the kitchen
a floor board
chirps

____________

the radiators bang

cod liver oil washed down
by fresh squeezed orange juice

he sits by the oven
warm on one side
shivering on the left

__________________

beyond the window, a bony dump*

as late as 1946
each classroom heated by a wood furnace

in summer
from the mine's maw
cool scary air

____________________

a table set for two, a roast in the oven

the phone rings
in a white dress she goes out

whether by choice
or chance, she steps
into traffic

_________

storming out of her home

in night and blizzard
getting as far as the bachelor's house

staying all winter
and never going back
having the last say

___________________

family barbecue

burnt offerings
the 'chock' of croquet balls

old, her eyesight gone
she sits apart
faintly smiling

_______________

six months missing

anonymous phone call
"your daughter's at the train station"

crippled and mute
she rocks
the years away

____________

they'd nothing for christmas that year

a cut spruce by the side of the road
the luck of a pheasant to run over

not a tale
to tell
at a New Age gathering

_______________________________

Three cherita by andrew riutta

30-year mortgage:

a leaning woodshed
and bumpy driveway.

Come midnight,
beads of dew shine
like miniature porch lights.

_________

one acre

two dogs
a wife and kid

how comical
to see a grown man
count on his fingers

_________

Corn stubble.

A choral rendition
of Adagio For Strings.

To start all over,
all one needs
is nothing.

_________

Caught: 
a cherita by Mrs Jones

his key turns the lock

table for two
soft lights and Bublé

'due to bad weather
all international flights
have been terminated'

_____________________________________

Two cherita by Denis M. Garrison

first published in
The Brink at Logan Pond (Modern English Tanka Press,
Baltimore, Maryland. 2005).

the cat's spot by the hearth, empty

leftover wanted posters curl
and darken in the flames

our old collie sniffs the spot,
turns to look me in the eye,
then gazes out the front window
__________

finally, I can hear the forest silence

pounding pulse in my ears has subsided
and my breath now merely drifts before me

my vision widens from its darkened tunnel
and the trees sharpen in focus and then . . .
the snow-crunching footsteps begin

_________________

'ghosts entwine' - a cherita sequence
sheila windsor (u.k.) hortensia anderson (u.s.a)
ron moss (tasmania)
13/01/05 - 17/01/05

every room electric light

reality t.v.
he wonders if it's tuesday

neighbour
at the door, another jar
she can't open /sw

her secret passion

datura noir and
white camellia

seeping through
Victorian atomisers
hidden in a hope chest /ha

lingering scent

he fingers the reminder
of last night's loving

ghosts entwine
beneath the indigo lake -
remembering her warmth /rm

something rusted like a cloud

north wind
the 'sale' board faded stoops

yet in the orchard
daffodils, more than before
sun yellow /sw

the moon sinks

rising from the trees
a certain coolness

at day's end --
Darjeeling steeps
into deep amber /ha

office block

as darkness creeps
she works alone

only a love-sick cat
and frozen sheets
to call home /rm

________________

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