Ronald Tanaka

Shido, the Way of Poetry Ronald Tanaka

Born in a wartime Relocation Center for Japanese-Americans in 1944, Tanaka uses the Zen parable to create a voice for those Americans who feel that they are living in a cultural vacuum on the margins of society. These small stories are kata or form exercises in spiritual self-definition, where the reader is shown how to create his or her own virtual literary culture. At the same time, Shidó focuses on the process of writing poetry as a spiritual discipline in which the poems themselves become stepping stones to spiritual ends. Originally published by the Journal of Ethnic Studies in 1982, Shidó is the companion volume to The Shino Suite, published by the Greenfield Review Press in 1981 and reprinted by Authors Choice Press in 2000. With these two texts, the reader can see the abrupt and often irreverent juxtaposition of theory and practice that is the mark of Tanakas literary style. This iUniverse.com reprinting features all new illustrations by Seattle artist, Louise Kikuchi from her Zen Buddhist series, Tao, Seeking a Way. It also includes, Son3ts which follows the poet of the Way into cyberspace, and StreetRac3r, one of the first poems ever written on street tuning a Honda Civic.