Rowan Hicks will be choosing the poetic challenge for October.

Good Luck everyone.

Sorry for the delay caused by a weekend's break.

I've thought long and hard about my choice of topic, as I want to set something which is both a challenge and an opportunity for stuff-strutting!

Your target, gentlefolk of PS, is to describe machinery of some kind. Anything allowed, from computers to vacuum cleaners, jet airliners to gadgetry like mobile phones. If I were entering, I'd be resubmitting my effort about escalators which I threw your way some time back.

Human - gadget interaction, being such a feature of the modern world, does not get its fair share of attention, probably through snobbery at its not being a 'worthy subject'.

I beg to differ.

Come on, folks.... give it a go!

Pros and Cons of Mobile phones

A mobile phone is handy
Bur can be expensive too
Needs no cables, or electricity
But they can be bad for you

Phones are cool, you can talk to friends
But can cause cancer as well
I love my phone, it is my life
But can they penetrate brain cells?

Phones are good for entertainment
But can be annoying in a crowd
Alright if you are using text
But the ring tones can be loud.

You can use them to take pictures
But they can be unsocial too
Especially on a romantic night
It can leave you feeling blue.

Mobiles certainly have evolved
But they can cost large amounts
An efficient way to communicate
But some people run up large accounts

Whatever you think of mobile phones
Is entirely down to you.
Are they really good or bad?
Well I have left my point of view.

Doreen E Hampshire

October 2009

My humble effort Rowan

Thanks for setting the challenge, Rowan, and thanks for 'setting the ball rolling' Doreen.

Where would we be nowadays without mobile phones?
A good first post on the challenge, Doreen - I'm still thinking ...

Rose x

COMPUTERS


Ah the computer age
Look where it took us
From pen and paper
To the stroke of keys

Generations of finger typing
Getting things finished faster
On time and even ahead of time
Things are not the same anymore

So many things you can do
With a computer
Pictures,chatting,sending emails
Dragging and dropping

Making assorted cards
Videos and checking websites
Uploading photos and sending them
Across the miles to loved ones and friends

The computers just keep improving
Every year in different shapes
Colors and more things added
Where would we all be without our computers

The office was silent and dim, idle hands were at a loss
Productivity was looking grim, all eyes upon the boss
Around his office he slowly paced, muttering tut, tut, tut
Nimble fingers now misplaced, due to this power cut
Screens black as night, coffee machine halted
Early lunch seems aright, half the staff has bolted

The old and wise, to the bosses surprise
Do as they must, opening cabinets of dust
Then alas they see, that the last entry
Was some time before, and quietly close the draw

And what if the wait should turn into days
Only old men debate, all our lost ways
What will they think then of paper and pen
Old days again, just a case of when
No nuclear reaction, but social interaction
No oil extraction, or play station distraction

The old and wise, ponder and surmise
Do as they must, let machinery rust
For perhaps they see, that humanity
Built a house of straw, upon ohms law

Margaret, I went straight from your post to Steve's
You are so right, where would we be without computers, nowadays - but -
yikes - where would we be without electricity to run them?

Rose x

PS to Rowan ...I haven't seen your 'escalators' one ...a repost, please

Rose x

So many things I couldn’t do without
So many items which I use
They are the tools my world turns about
I can’t pick just one to choose

I need the kettle at the start of the day
To make my cup of coffee
Cold water doesn’t wake me the same way
At a push, I can manage with tea

There’s the toaster to toast the bread
The fridge keeping the butter cool
Bread with warm butter instead
Not my first choice, as a rule

Then I switch on my computer
I check my diary that way
And the computer then needs the router
So I can see my bank balance today

All these machines, just in the morning
Seem to be essential to me
My day is ruined if without warning
I have no electricity

Thanks, Rowan, for the repost
It was well worth reading and I especially liked these words

A vanishing-point, future perspective as
The world sinks past us, into history.

Rose x

111 1111 10011 1000

Rose xx

There are only 10 types of people Rose,
Those who understand binary and those that don't

0 you are a 1 xx

1 + 1 = 10

the winner of the October challenge is

Steve

Computer Poetry



Steve will be setting the poetry challenge for November.

Thanks to all who entered.