As an Englishman in Italy, I am forever the outsider. But I feel the same when I go ‘home’ even though the culture is less alien. This is one reason I’ve always related to David Byrne.
David Byrne as he appears in True Stories (1986)
I like the way he looks at the everyday world from an extraterrestrial perspective.
In his movie True Stories, Byrne is the narrator visiting Virgil, Texas. He says: “I really enjoy forgetting. When I first come to a place, I notice all the little details. I notice the way the sky looks. The color of white paper. The way people walk. Doorknobs. Everything. Then I get used to the place and I don’t notice those things anymore. So only by forgetting can I see the place again as it really is”.
Craig Raine
Craig Raine is an English poet.
When he was 35, he published a collection called A Martian Sends A Postcard Home.
In the title poem, a visitor from Mars describes things like books, babies, the weather and clocks.
It’s very clever and a bit sad.
Can you imagine the place where you are as if it were new and unfamiliar?
Here is the poem:
