Ronald Tanaka

The Shino Suite: Japanese-american Poetry Ronald Tanaka

Ronald Tanaka is a third-generation Japanese-American and was born in a WW II Internment Center in Arizona. The Shino Suite is a collection of love poems that chronicle the inner battles the poet had to wage to define his role as a Japanese-American male in American society. As the single parent of a daughter, Shino, and as the lover of an always illusive Japanese woman, Tanaka constructs poems that reflect the almost whimsical hope that he can find spiritual wholeness in a world in which he has become all but invisible. In this 2005 edition, Tanaka provides a broader context for the original set of poems. Since that writing, he has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, Major Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In his commentary and notes, he explains how his early work can be seen as part of his self-destructive struggles with mental illness. Also featured are all new paintings by Tanaka as well as his two daughters, Shino and Yoi. The Greenfield Review edition of The Shino Suite won a Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award in 1982 and was selected by the Library Journal as one of the best small press publications of 1981.