“A Martian Sends a Postcard Home” is a poem written by Craig Raine, an English poet known for his work in Martian poetry. Raine studied at Oxford New College, serving as a professor there, and later becoming the editor of the Areté newspaper, beginning in 1999.
This poem is one written in the form of a Martian poem. It follows the internal thoughts and initial reactions as a Martian observes human beings with a full-fledged ignorance of their lives and existence. The Martian tries to portray humans to his fellow beings, it describes our normal lives in a very outside, foreign way.
Martian poetry is a British “movement” in the late ‘70s to early ‘80s. It focused on a new way to describe things, making everyday objects and motions seem strange and alien, as if a Martian creature was describing what they see for the first time, hence the name Martian poetry. It is also described as someone suffering from extreme and complete amnesia, seeing the world again for the first time. This style of poetry became a popular method of teaching poetry composition to kids at school.
The poets that are the most closely associated with this form of poetry is Christopher Reid and the author of “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home”, Craig Raine himself.
