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While I was reading the prompt devised by Poet-of-the-Week Nolcha Fox for this week’s W3 Poetry Prompt #194, I was also expecting a Post Office collection for a large parcel. Just then, an email arrived saying they were unable to collect it.

The Post Office offers this wonderful service where they pick up your parcels, provide the labels, and save you the trek to the Post Office with bulky packages and long queues. It’s brilliant when it works.

This is my first attempt at writing a Cherita. The Cherita is a modern poetry form created by Ai Li in 1997, and its name comes from the Malay word for story or tale.

Telling a whole story in just six lines is quite a challenge—but here we go.

Special Delivery Collection

Cherita poem No.1

we’re sorry but we were unable to fulfil your collection request

the big brown package waits in the hallway
unavoidable, in the way, 

the screen blinks its apology—
they did their best—
sorry for the inconvenience     and delay

_{—Lesley Scoble, January 2026}

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My thanks to Nolcha for introducing me to the Cherita poetry form.
My thanks, as always, to David, The Skeptics Kaddish, for his constant poetic motivation and encouragement.
And my whole hearted thanks to you, the reader, for spending time with my poem.

W3 Prompt #194: Wea’ve Written Weekly