Philosophical Autobiography, as Poem

I wrote this for a Philosophy & Arts group meeting in March of 2020, and I saw it again recently. Why not share with a broader audience?


When introducing myself to you here

I can say I’m a thinker or a philosopher 

Or my name is Nur Banu and I go by NB

But these are just contingent facts about me

What really matters I must say

Is my existence day to day

Depends not on me or the universe at bay

But something other than me, and far away?

I know these for sure about me:

I need to breathe and eat and occasionally pee

I love having my family and friends around 

And all that I love eventually finds itself in the ground 

So what is this biography, intellectual or otherwise 

Yes I like Socrates and Meno and I’d prefer to be wise

But fundamentally if you were to ask me 

I’m a being so incredibly needy 

That I require continual upkeep

Even when I’m lying down and asleep 

If the whole cosmos were a book

It would be the first place I’d look

Because a living contradiction is what I am

Finite being yearning for eternity — that’s the name of the program

7. Know You

i want to know you.
i want to know
the little things
that make you, you

like how you
don't like bread
unless you eat it
with tangerines

and why your
favorite color is turquoise
because you can never
spell it correctly

i want to know
all the little things.
the bread crumbs
and the paint drips.

6. Footprints

snow covered sidewalks
where I can leave fresh footprints
that have the chance of being followed
by people I don't know.
and when concealed with
a new layer of white
i will imprint my path
again.
--