Welcome to the first Thursday of May. Thursdays mean it’s time for poetry with Pam and her ginger kitties, Teddy and Angel Sammy over at Two Spoiled Cats.
This is our inspirational photo for today’s poem:
Before I share my poem, this is the caption for that photo:
“09 Jul 1936 — With the resumption of examinations for stenographers and typists by the United States Civil Service Commission, such enormous numbers of applications have been received that the examiners have been forced to hold the tests in the huge indoor stadium of the McKinley High School. Photo shows a general view of the examinations; it is estimated that there are about 1,300 applicants in this group. a record making class. — Image by © Underwood & Underwood/Corbis”
By the way, I took a Civil Service Exam when I graduated from high school and did very well on it. I still have my test results somewhere. But, at the time, the nearest job openings were at the FBI in Washington, D.C. There was no way my eighteen-year-old self was moving to D.C.
My poem today is ‘loosely based’ on the photo above. It brought back many memories of my high school typing class:
Typing
In school, typing was my favorite class.
I wasn’t that accurate, but I was fast.
‘Timed writings’: a chance for my fingers to fly.
And, as for accuracy, I really DID try.
But my teacher said: “Too many mistakes.
Slow down a little; that’s all it would take”.
I understood the theory, but my fingers still flew.
Poor Miss King…what else could she do?
Back in those days, we just had no clue
that the backspace key would be a dream come true.
~These Days Of Mine~
these days of mine 
I loved typing – still do……after i got my job with the Department of the Army I had to ride a bus for an hour to get to Arlington – I did have to take my typing test at the Pentagon and found that place OVERWHELMING. My job took me there many times over those years and I never got over that OVERWHELMING feeling. Loved your poem – you and I have some similar memories of that whole thing.
Pam
Me too – love ‘keyboarding ‘ – I think it’s called today!!! I think your fingers just couldn’t slow down because you’re a pianist too! LOVE your poem. I couldn’t help but think – 1300 manual typewriters – imagine the ‘noise’ when they were all typing! If you could concentrate in that, you definitely earned your job placement!
Awww. Reference to the venerable Mrs King, typing and shorthand teacher -perfect!
Flying fingers, great description!
Can you imagine the sound cascading in that test room.
Interesting subject.
My fingers flew too fast also — and they still often do!!
Excellent -typed- lines once again ; )
I think many of us are thinking along the same lines –
can you imagine the sound in there ?!
BRAVO!!! Great job!