Usually I'm a "fan" of Raine's, but this poem seems a little random, even for the founder of the "Martian School."
Raine's "A Martian Sends A Postcard Home" and "The Onion, Memory" both have strange juxtapositions, but the images cohere better in those poems than in "Nature Study."
That's not to say there aren't some gorgeous, perfect images in here - "crocodiles lie like wet beams" is intriguing and apt - but overall this poem doesn't hold up to re-readings.
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Raine's "A Martian Sends A Postcard Home" and "The Onion, Memory" both have strange juxtapositions, but the images cohere better in those poems than in "Nature Study."
That's not to say there aren't some gorgeous, perfect images in here - "crocodiles lie like wet beams" is intriguing and apt - but overall this poem doesn't hold up to re-readings.