This poem by James Merrill was published in The New York Review of Books on March 3, 1983, making reference to the School of Speedwriting that was the rage in New York and parts of New Jersey in the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps the precursor of texting, speedwriting was certainly easier than mastering the Pittman, Gregg or Teeline versions of stenography that look as foreign as hieroglyphics to older folks and cursive writing to younger ones today.