On the Presence of Being Everywhere is a platform for Richard Mather’s poetry, prose and non-fiction writing.

The Octopus and the Fisherman

Paralyzed by a glob

of toxic spittle,

the lobster makes a fine meal

for the octopus

whose hard beak stabs the shell.

If disturbed

by a shark or stingray,

the octopus will vanish

in a puff of ink or contort

its boneless body

into the colours of a coral reef.

In a watery crook,

the octopus seals shut

the cave’s mouth,

lays her eggs.

A fisherman fingers

a long-handled blade,

rolls a cigarette,

chops herbs and garlic

by a charcoal fire.

Now dozing in the sun,

the fisherman dreams

of a knife entering

soft hulk, dreams

of bleached meat

drying in the Polynesian sun.

The fisherman awakes

and stabs the sea

with a spear, draws up

a pretty mollusc.

He tenderises it

with the skill of one

who has spent his life

pounding carcass

against stone.

Poetry from On the Presence of Being Everywhere

Blog By Richard Mather

Aimed at those who appreciate poetry and philosophy, my website acts as a platform for showcasing both passions, with poems, essays, and reflective pieces on language, phenomenology, religion, and ontology. An ongoing focus is on how language not only ‘speaks’ writing into being (often beyond the writer’s conscious control), but how it speaks people into being, leaving us with the unsettling feeling that language has its own agenda, an agenda that we cannot hope to understand. In a world where language is omnipresent (the ‘being-everywhere’ of language), the challenge is not merely to resist its control but to harness its incredible power to convey (and perhaps reclaim) our authentic selves.

Richard Mather is a freelance writer based in the north of England. His poetry, op-eds, and news articles have been published in various media outlets and literary magazines in the UK, USA, and the Middle East. He has also contributed to online commercial platforms for the sharing of academic research.

Text © Richard Mather

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