I started thinking along the usual lines of national heroes who had amazing stories to tell, of courage and justice and the triumph of truth.  Then wondered about people who were great storytellers and raconteurs who would hold our attention rapt at the dinner table.  But after a while I figured it would be amazing to host a dinner party of poets.  People who can weave words into magic, spin a web of hopes and dreams and imagined worlds.  People who have lived amazing lives and seen some of the dark side.  People who can tell it like it us, often with a real sucker punch.

So poets it is, and here’s my dreamy guest list:

Maya Angelou. Writer, activist and storyteller as well as a poet, she has an amazing ability to express the human desire for an authentic life.  Here’s one of my favourite lines on the importance of the individual’s story:  "there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

Rumi. I have to confess I’ve only read snippets of his poetry so far but it contains lines of astonishing beauty and power. Words written hundreds of years before that still have the power to stop you in your tracks.  "You were born with wings.  Why prefer to crawl through life?"

Spike Milligan.  Change of tack here to make sure our dinner guests keep their feet on the ground.  Best known as a comedian (including comic poetry) but with some stunning dark material too born out of his experience of depression.  Again some great one-liners – this time to make us smile.  "Well we can’t stand around here doing nothing, people will think we’re workmen!"

Shane Koyczan.  A Canadian spoken word performer, sometimes called a rap poet.  I heard Shane a couple of years ago at the Edinburgh Book Festival and it was a stunning experience.  He moved his audience through a spectrum of emotions with the power of his words: anger, laughter, frustration and tears.  No one-liners here, and you need to listen to the poems for best effect.  You can sample his poetry here - click on the ‘play our jukebox’ for a selection of his work.

Raymond Carver.  Well just one of my favourite writers and poets.  I’d love to have had the chance to sit down and have dinner with this guy.  Again he has some lines that stop you still, questions that will continue to run through your head for long enough, who knows?  Maybe even the rest of your life.  Here’s a favourite, from Late Fragment:

"And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?"

So that’s my choice of dinner guests for an evening of poetry and power, of musings and magic.   Who would you want to invite along for supper – and why?