Defamiliarization
The major concept of all Raine's Martian poetry is “Defamiliarization”. Defamiliarization is the literary technique of making everyday things seem foreign and strange. By putting distance between humans and their daily tasks, the poet can better examine why humans do such things. In truth, when described in an unfamiliar manner, much human activity seems either superfluous or strange. By speaking of Earth through the eyes of the Martian, Raine takes a critical eye to many things we rarely reflect on such as clocks, work, weather, and sleep.
Absurdity of the Commonplace
Once Raine is able to establish distance between the reader and the subject matter, his descriptions become so intriguing to border on disturbing. The concept of sleep in “A Martian Sends A Postcard Home” sounds absurd, but the Martian is accurately describing what sleep appears to be (from an outsider's perspective). The omniprescence of memories in “The Onion, Memory” is disturbing until the reader realizes humans live their lives constantly surrounded by memories. While the arbitrary nature of death in “In the Kalahari Desert” forces the reader to reflect more critically on the aspect of death. All these things are subjects humans encounter each day but do not take too much time to reflect on. Raine's poetry shows how humans are so swamped in their own customs they do not realize it.
Failure
The human element of failure still appears in Raine's poetry. Despite their odd language both “The Onion, Memory” and “In The Kalahari Desert” focus on the heartbreaking and deadly faults of human failure. “The Onion, Memory” focuses upon the confusing results of emotional failure. While the speaker is once again friends with his ex-wife, the poem is still haunted by the failure of their relationship. In “In The Kalahari Desert” the failure of the travelers is far more serious. The inability of English to convey universal meaning results in the death of nearly the entire group. Though Raine's language is often strange, he shows that failure is still a universal concept.
Human Experience
Be it either from the mouth of a Martian, the memories of Romance, or a doomed expedition in the Kalahari, Raine's poetry is still about humanity. The poetry though does like to show how absurd humans can be. Raine's artificial language is the scope through which he examines these things. It is always important to have a critical view towards human habits. Raine examines human life through the many odd descriptions and scenarios in his poetry. The disconnect is often surface level to get at a larger, more critical truth.
