"Suicide Note" Analysis by Karleigh

Poems, songs, and short stories can have many different meanings.  Mark Gibbons, “Suicide Note”, was about the transition in his life from being happy, having suicidal thoughts, and then finally death. I believe that the first 10 lines of his poem display life, while the other 25 lines talk about death.  This poem transitions from talking about life, then there is a point in the poem where it turns to death.

Mark Gibbons has a clever way with words.  “I am slick /  bear grass on an alpine slope” (1-2).  I think that this line shows life because bear grass is a living plant.  When I picture this line in my head I imagine grassy hills that house many different animals.  “I am cottonwood bark / floating in an eddy, / a double rainbow over Flathead Lake” (4-7).  I interpret this line as life because cottonwood bark, streams and rainbows are aspects of a landscape that one could enjoy.  These are not part of nature that I would associate with death. 

The point of transition from happiness to thoughts of death is, “I am / comets, the moon, my father’s /  ash” (10-11).  I interpret this line as the shifting point in the poem because after this line there are no lines which show life.  “I am bloody, / the swatted mosquito” (12-13).  I believe Mark Gibbons included this line in his poem because he wanted to show that someone broke his spirit.  “The swatted mosquito”, was Mark Gibbons way of saying that a person in his life broke him down.  Elements in this poem make me think that the Mark Gibbons sees himself as a monster.  “I am the reason / you fear the dark” (18-19).  When I read this line I imagine a criminal or even just a bad person.  Reading that line makes me think that the writer loathes himself. 

The deeper in this piece you get you come to realize that majority of it represents ideas of death. A few examples of this are: “I am cinnamon toast / and whispering voices that hiss—there is no forgiveness.”    I believe that suicide happens when a person feels that their life has no worth.  “There is no forgiveness”, makes me think the poet felt like they would never overcome a mistake they made.  “I am chemotherapy” (31).  Nothing screams death more than cancer.  Although chemotherapy is the treatment for cancer, I feel like chemo takes the life out of people.  Even though the purpose of chemotherapy is to heal people infected by cancer, it seems to make people feel like they’re dying, instead of being healed. 

Thousands of people commit suicide every day.  Some people leave a note which explains to their loved ones why they chose to take their life, while others choose to leave their loved ones with questions.  In Mark Gibbons “Suicide Note”, .I believe that every person that becomes suicidal had something very serious happen in their life which would  make them want to leave their life behind.  I don’t think that people can just become suicidal for no reason, there has to be a turning point in their life.  For each person who suffers from being suicidal, the turning point is different.