QuickMuse is a new site where well known poets battle it out in a fifteen minute race to pen the most compelling text inspired by a thought provoking quote about art. The live event is archived so you can watch each keystroke beside a ticking clock and then discuss the race and poetry in the site’s forum.
It’s fun to watch the pauses, deletions, misspellings and bursts of text that come from great poets writing against the clock.
QuickMuse has lassoed some high quality poets. The first contest, or agon as the Greeks called them, was between Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon and Thylias Moss, recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship and the Whiting Award. The second agon, held last week, pitted former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky against the prolific author Julianna Baggott. This Wednessday will see Marge Piercy write race the clock and Jonathan Galassi. On June 27th, New Republic poetry edtior Glyn Maxwell and Thylias Moss will square off. Then on July 12, it’s Carol Muske-Dukes and Kevin Young. All live events happen at 9:30 PM EST and are then archived on the website.
QuckMuse was created by Ken Gordon, a poetry enthusiast and the editor of JBooks.com, a site about Jewish literature.
