The Cherita: The Sound

surrendering heaven
beneath
an alpine moon

in savage ice

lingers your
desert fire

gulag archipelago

even now in
stillness

moonlight
cannot
escape

I’m thrilled and honored to have these two cherita published in Ai Li’s cherita book #91, the sound. Both of these poems have been chosen by Ai as recipients of Cherita Lighthouse Awards.

I used the first cherita as the basis for writing an extended 15-line freeform poem several months ago titled Himalayan Moon.

The second cherita was inspired after reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s harrowing Gulag Archipelago.