The problem is that the slowness is not limited to running command line programs, the REPL is slow to start, compilation is slow and so is running any leiningen

The problem is that the slowness is not limited to running command line programs, the REPL is slow to start, compilation is slow and so is running any leiningen task. As suggested in another comment I gave a quick try at ClojureScript but the compilation process is also slow. Clojure is an appealing language but to me the general sluggishness of the environment is too irritating. The existence of things like Nailgun and Drip seem to confirm that there's a real problem there. I suppose if you're coming from a C-based runtime like Ruby or Python, you have to adapt your workflow. I imagine that a lot of Clojure people come from Java and have already shaped their workflow around the JVM.