top of page
Writer's pictureJohn Dallison

ONLY CONNECT January Challenge

Updated: Jan 9, 2023


The poem's title is, of course, a quotation from novelist E M Forster.


In the late1950s, we were told that things

Had never been much better -

To ignore rationing of clothes and of food,

Eschewing 'Make-Do and Mend';

To concentrate on enjoyment and

Buying the brightest consumer goods -

Thus keeping up with our friends.


Along came smart new gadgets galore -

Like colourful, vibrant phones

With streamlined bodies, perspex dials

And soothing, warbling tones...


They used the latest technology

And were said to be 'built to last' -

We knew things could never be better.

Bring on the furure! Fast!


But years sped by, and once-bright phones

Looked shabby and out of date,

To be supplanted by hefty mobile models,

More useful - and 'easier to operate'.


Today, with apps and gismos,

Smartphones do great things. Yet they, too, become obsolete at

An ever faster rate.

True, they perform many useful tasks -

But can they still help us communicate?



59 views1 comment

1 commento


Membro sconosciuto
22 gen 2023

The pace of technology keeps rolling (remember the fax?) but the need to communicate is eternal

Mi piace
bottom of page