POETRY I REFLECTIONS I PHILOSOPHY
The Café Chronicles
Philosophical reflections while working from a café
Amidst the café’s murmur,
Brubeck plays in the background,
The Cappuccino, once warm
Succumbs to the cold.
Eggs in Purgatory —
A crimson sea of marinara
In a liminal state.
My laptop languishes
In an existential fatigue.
I lift my gaze.
Amidst the theater of shared existence
And mingling destinies,
Lovers are engaged in dialogues —
Hegelian dialectic of passion and reason.
Business partners negotiate —
Kantian categorical imperative
Building bonds amid transactions.
The lone guy fixated on his screen
Typifies a Cartesian cogito —
“I think, therefore I am.”
The ensemble at the adjacent table
Share their stories —
Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence.
The servers in a Sisyphean struggle
Carrying trays and aspirations
Tirelessly propelling the hill of demands.
Like Bentham’s pursuit, the café owner
Skillfully wields a utilitarian pragmatism.
In this cafe’s theater
where lives pleach —
Phenomenology’s nub.
After the silent observer’s quest
I return to my musings —
Kierkegaard’s exploration of the self.
"May I clear your plate?” the server interrupts,
Eggs of Purgatory depart—
A cycle now complete,
A canvas wiped clean.
I summon a fresh course,
A philosophical rite,
The story of flux —
Heraclitus’s legacy.
Brubeck’s piano and Desmond’s saxophone ring out.
© Manali Mitra 2023. All Rights Reserved.
