READER RESPONSE “SUICIDE NOTE” BY JANICE MIRIKITANI Janice Mirikatani is the poet Laureate of San Francisco and a very accomplished poet. As well as being a poet Mirikatani is also a choreographer, an administrator, and a community activist. Most of her poetry deals with the after shock of World War II, and other violent and traumatic events. Her poems are meant to shock the reader, but with a specific purpose. One such poem is “Suicide Note” written in 1987. This poem was written about a female Asian-American college student’s suicide note which was left after she leapt from her doom window. The girl's body lay in the snow, undiscovered for two days. As a student my reader response to “Suicide Note” was very familiar and hit close to home.The poem begins with an apology to her parents for not being what they wanted. The student is saying how very hard she worked, and even harder for them, but still was not good enough. She then wishes she were something else, a son, something they could have been proud of. She imagines her life as a son. She thinks if she were a son she could have become all the things they wanted her to be. She believes had she been a boy she would be living a happy life making her parents proud. I think many student’s parents push them and try and shape them into something they can not, or do not want to be. Many students start out in a certain major because that is what their parents want them to do. Many students feel they may never live up to their parents standers, while others end up resenting their parents for all the pressure that is put on them. This is one of the reasons this poem is so effective it identifies with these feelings and created a very strong message.The student goes on to apologize for the tasks which were not easy for her. She says each “failure, disapproval, and disappointment” was another “glacier, a boot print” that...
