Current
Issue
Fall 2026 / Volume 13.1
Matthew Charles Zhao
—
Poetry is the Opposite of Suicide
Suicide is, after all, the opposite of the poem.
—Anne Sexton
No, Anne, the poem is the opposite of suicide.
It sounds the same but what we’re opposing is
suicide. The eternal question. An intrusive
thought ushered past when we get the urge
to swerve off bridges. We try to understand
what could drive a person to this point.
Is it the sharp tip of a mold-flecked knife
in the kitchen sink, soaking under dishes?
I think about how I am failing these kids
as a teacher, and how I failed that kid with
so much promise, so much expectation.
And now I have to do the dishes.
I will start anew here and leave behind
everything that has ever held me down,
and I’m surprised it is mostly my own weight.
Matthew Charles Zhao is a PhD student at Florida State University and co-editor of poetry for the Southeast Review. He was a finalist in the National Poetry Series, Mississippi Review Prize, and Florida Review Editor's Prize, and an honorable mention in Booth's Susan Neville Prize. His poems appear in swamp pink, The Offing, Grain, Best New Poets, and elsewhere. His nonfiction is forthcoming in New Ohio Review.
