The foreword of the poem tells you that the poem is about an Asian girl who had jumped to her death and found in the snow days later and in her suicide note an apology to her parents for not receiving less than perfect scores in school. I agree with the statement but I also find that the poem can be about a girl apologizing to her parents for not being a boy and then committing suicide because she feels that her parents would only be happy if they had a son and that nothing she did was good enough for them.

          I personally had a connection with the poem and the way I viewed it. My parents were proud of me being a boy but I felt that they were never really proud of my accomplishments because I never completed any of the supposed boy things. I did not play sports, I was not into rock music, and of course I did not date girls.  I was very artistic, I played classical music, the instrument of choice was the flute, I was shy and not outgoing. I was also secretly battling my own emotions and coming to terms with my sexuality, it would be a year after graduation when I would finally come out being gay. My parents never came out and said that they where ashamed of me but you could see it in their eyes and the way they acted when I was around. To this day I feel that my brother holds more of a special place in their hearts then I do but I don't let it bother me like I had in the past for I know what the value of my life is in this world.