The poem "Suicide Note" is included as part of the poem anthology by Janice Mirikitani titled Shedding Silence. This anthology was published in 1987, which would be the publication date of the poem, as well.

All the poems in Shedding Silence share the common subject of how second generation Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans have to shift paradigms and understand their lives under an Americanized perspective, thus leaving behind the constructs and social expectations that, in their motherland, would have rendered them less free than what they are in America.

As a result, the poem from Shedding Silence, "Suicide Note", would also share the commonality of theme since it is about a young Asian American college student who does not feel that she is meeting the expectations bestowed upon her by her traditional Asian parents.