speedcomp poem #1

By Jacqueline Jackson

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just heard on NPR tahiti trot by shostakovich
he’d been dared to orchestrate in just one hour
the popular tune tea for two did a grand jazzy job
it reminds me of those contests that crop up
every now and then for would-be writers write a
novel in one hour or was it one day or one week
I’ve never heard what happened to those frantic
manuscripts as for me I work slow the book I’m
proofreading right now was begun when I was
fifteen well over half a century ago it might be fun
to try one of those quick jobbies on the other hand
this poem was scribbled in five minutes not counting
eight minutes thought in the car and now its tidying
up (how do you spell shostakovich) but then it’s no
tahiti trot or tea for two either I can’t deny though
that deadlines affect creative speed if not quality

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