Gembun is a unique 4 or 5 line storytelling format conceived and created by ai li along with Cherita and Dua. The plural of Gembun is Gembun. Gembun never has a title.
It is made up of one-word or one sentence to be linked with a haiku of up to four lines.
Gembun has to include an element of suggestion in either the opening sentence, the haiku or in both.
Gembun Terbalik is an inverted gembun. It
is written with a haiku of 3 or 4 lines as its opening stanza and then capped by a one liner.
Here are some gembun by ai li
looks like rain
bringing in
laundry
and dreams
*
dark night
let there
be lanterns
of fireflies
*
the skipping rope in a cul-de-sac
a child
who looks like me
becoming dusk
*
Here are some gembun terbalik by ai li
silk brocade
in a shop window
night must fall
for me to dream
*
porchlight
on
an autumn evening
moths are home
*
how
we have aged
come winter
how white the snow
*
Some gembun tanka now ( gembun tanka is gembun with a tanka in place of a haiku):
By Amrutha V Prabhu
echoes of this rain
kissing
kissing my feet
again and again —
waves at the shoreline
turning back
*
By Mona Bedi
years later he still feels like a stranger to her
lost and lonely
in a long marriage —
a missing note
among the rusted strings
of the old guitar
*
By Sumitra Kumar
This larger-than-life banyan tree …
great-grandpa’s
descendants scattered
around the world …
how my fancy conjures
cousins’ faces in every crowd
*
Now a gembun terbalik tanka
By Kanjini Devi
leaving you
out in the cold rain
how could she …
these waves of regret
over and over again
but she promised, she promised to look after you
*
Introduction to gembun and gembun and gembun terbalik by ai li are courtesy ai li’s official website: https://www.thecherita.com
Gembun tanka and gembun terbalik tanka are courtesy HaikuKATHA Issue 57 July 2026.
Gembun Anthologies by ai li are available on Amazon.
HaikuKATHA Journals are available on https://www.trivenihaikai.com.
This post is part of Blogchatter’s Half Marathon 2026
very effective
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Thank you very much Derrrick 🙏
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Thank you so much Derrrick 🙏
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Thank you 🙏 for introducing me to the Gembun; I’d never heard of these. I especially enjoyed dark night.
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Yes. It’s a unique form. Dark night is a lovely Gembun
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I haven’t seen this poetry format before, so thank you for introducing me to it! I love haiku, and this seems quite similar. I’ll have to give it a try. 🙂
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Yes, please do. It is a very interesting format and very evocative too.
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Haven’t heard about it,Geeta Di
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It was conceived and created in 1997.. Comparatively new.
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एक बात तो हे ,आपसे बहत कुछ सीखा
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Thank you Nusrat. The feelings are mutual.
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I read about Gembun for the first time. Such a simple format, but it leaves so much room for imagination. Really interesting! 🤍
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Yes, Rajeshwari. It leaves a lot of scope for interpretation and imagination like all other haiku forms.
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These are lovely… Gembun is new for me. Excellent!
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Thank you very much Chris. Glad you liked them.
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An interesting poetic form.
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Thank you very much Sadje
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My pleasure 😇
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👏🌟👏
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Thanks for introducing me to Gembun, they seem to be quite interesting, I had no idea.
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Gembun is comparatively a newer format. But it’s interesting and leaves a lot of scope for the readers to interpret.
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