In Black & White. Poem by Michael Walker

We got a black-and-white television set
in about 1961 with prominent dials
an indoor aerial, and a curve-corner screen
that told you things straight.

Colour replaced black and white in the '70s
so that the TV screen got closer to reality
and the virtual world attracted more viewers.
There were only two or three channels in those days.

The Olympic Games and Tennis Opens now shone
with orange cinder tracks, the grass strips
of Wimbledon, the red clay of Roland Garrigues
and blue plexigrass of other Grand Slam venues.

I see flat-screen, digital sets in shops now:
their slim presence lights up the show room
whether the screen is 32-inch or 42-inch,
LED, LCD, or Plasma of the virtual world.

-12 June,2015.