Janice MirikataniJanice Mirikatani is the Poet Laureate of San Francisco and a very accomplished poet. Besides being a poet Mirikatani is also a choreographer, an administrator and a community activist. Most of his poetry deals with the shock following the Second World War and other violent and traumatic events. His poems are intended to shock the reader, but with a specific purpose. One such poem is “Suicide Note” written in 1987. This poem was written about the suicide note of an Asian-American college student who was dumped after jumping from the window of doom. The girl's body remained hidden in the snow for two days. As a student, my readers' response to "Suicide Note" was very familiar and resonated with me. The poem begins with an apology to his parents for not being what they wanted. The student is saying how hard she worked, and even harder for them, but she still wasn't good enough. Then he wishes he were something else, a son, something they could be proud of. Imagine his life as a son. She thinks that if she had been a son she could have become anything they wanted her to be. She believes that if she had been a boy she would have lived a happy life making her parents proud. I think many students' parents push them and try to mold them into something they can't or don't want to be. Many students start with a certain major because that's what their parents want them to do. Many students feel that perhaps they will never live up to their parents' positions, while others end up resenting their parents for all the pressure placed on them. This is one of the reasons why this poem is so effective in identifying with these feelings and creating a very strong message. The student goes on to apologize for homework that wasn't easy for her. She says that every "failure, disapproval and disappointment" was another "glacier, a boot print" that eventually became too much for her to handle. These disappointments were also the reason why he continued to work so hard. It was never for herself, but always to try to make her parents proud. The repeated stanza that begins in the third line of the poem is representative of the suicidal feelings and feelings of inferiority that we all feel but may not express..