A Martian sends a postcard home.

A)
•Descriptions in this poem are created through adjectives, similes, metaphors and personification. Can you think of an example of each of these language features?
•In pairs, think of an unusual everyday item and write a couple of sentences describing the item using a simile, metaphor or personification if possible, but without mentioning the item by its actual name.
•We will try to guess the item.
 
B)
Raine is well known as one of the exponents of ‘Martian’ poetry. Through unusual, ingenious and sometimes humorous visual images, Raine attempts to make readers look at the familiar in fresh, illuminating ways. The poem in this anthology inspired the ‘Martian’ description of the work of a number of writers in the late 1970s and early ’80s, whose poems were full of striking, surreal images. This poem seeks to describe human behaviour and objects as if they are being seen for the first time by a visiting Martian. Consequently, the tone is detached and objective, but also quizzical. The ordinary and commonplace are illuminated by a fresh perspective in seventeen unrhymed couplets. While the poem is almost like a series of riddles that invite the reader to decipher them, the use of language is original and evocative.
 
 

C)

Seeing the alien spacecraft that travelled to earth and having had the chance to go for a 'ride'with them was a fantastic experience.  Now that you are safely home, you have the opportunity to describe the event.  Slam FM has asked you to write a story giving detailed description of the spacecraft, the aliens, and your experiences.  The editor advises you to make your description as colourful and specific as you can because people have to be able to imagine what you tell them over the radio.  What you observed was really "out of this world", so you can't count on the readers knowing what you have in mind.