Party of Twelve

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The Prompt: Seat Guru—You get to plan a dinner party for 4-8 of your favorite writers/artists/musicians/other notable figures, whether dead or alive. Who do you seat next to whom in order to inspire the most fun evening?

I chose twelve guests, plus myself. The seating chart is below. You will have to imagine me sitting in the exact middle of the table shaped like a ring around me.

Dinner for 12 seat chart

Party of Twelve

I have planned the dinner party, set the table, cooked the food,
but decisions about seating charts is ruining my mood;
for I want to sit by everyone, hear every conversation,
and trying to choose only two is causing consternation.
I think, therefore, I’d put me on a chair right in the center
on a sort of lazy Susan so I’d be able to enter
every conversation and to listen in on all,
seeing how they fare just like a fly upon the wall.

I’d have a little foot pedal to spin me at my ease—
enjoy Chaucer with my salad and Jane Austen with my cheese.
Jesus Christ and Whoopi could gang up on Rush and tell
why he’s the one who’s going to be broadcasting in Hell.
Osama bin Laden would be seated ear-to-ear
with Mohammed who would tell him what all terrorists should hear:
that the truth of the religion has got lost along the way,
for no one who is enlightened wants to kill and burn and slay.
Steve Martin would be there for fun to loosen up Osama
and spar with Rush to get his mind off Hillary and Obama.

I’d ask two people from real life to join us at the table:
Doug between the prophets so he’d finally be able
to be faced with the real men so he can sort out fact and fiction
and show it’s the religions that have caused us all the friction.
The men themselves had peace at heart and must bemoan the end
that power brokers bring the world to as their truth they bend.

The other person that I want to have here at my meal
is Ann Garcia, for I know her pleasure would be real.
Seated by Jane Austen, she would question her and tell
of her appreciation of the books she’s loved so well.
Barbara Kingsolver I’d seat upon on her other side.
She, too, would get much praise but also would have to abide
many interruptions from one listening from the middle,
for I’d be hopping back and forth like water on a griddle.

These people all are here because my curiosity
is whetted by my fantasies of what I’ll hear and see.
There is another guest that I’ve neglected to reveal,
but he is central to the plot of this illustrious meal.
Geoffrey Chaucer would be there to listen and relate
the story of this group of people that we love and hate.
So all the world could hear the tale of what we learned at table.
This earliest father of literature is surely the most able
to see the truth of character and spin a tale to tell
the truth of what will save our world from fire, brimstone, Hell!

And then, one final person I’d invite to be a guest
is Barbara Walters, who would come to interview the rest;
so we’d be sure that all received their moment in the sun,
and we could question them after her interview was done.

If you have any questions that you’d like an answer to,
most happily, I’ll ask them and pass answers on to you.
I will not mind a bit assuming this laborious task.
Just comment on this poem and say what you would like to ask
of Chaucer or of Jesus or of Whoopi or of Steve.
If they’re still here, I’ll ask them, or if they have chosen to leave,
I’ll channel them in poetry and say what I believe
they’d say if your request were one they could themselves receive.
But for now our party’s over and our guests have all departed.
Many better-fed, and (let’s hope) some more open-hearted!!!

P.S. The number of guests at my dinner party is coincidental. In no way is this poem meant to allude to another illustrious dinner of twelve plus one.

P.P.S.  Oops..Barbara Walters somehow got bounced off the seating chart.  I guess I’ll give her my seat and I’ll just roam around the perimeter, helping my sister serve the soup, but mostly just listening in and butting in. So this really should be called “Party of Thirteen.” I also had Will Rogers on my original seating plan, but he was somehow omitted.  It was my first time using the program that created the seating chart and it took me longer to get it together than to write the entire poem. Sorry Will, I’ll catch you later.  Perhaps devote an entire poem to you.

 

 

24 thoughts on “Party of Twelve”

  1. Patti's avatarPatti

    What an unusual guest list. And how interesting that one side of the table is literary, the other religious/political (the two of which often seem to blend, and not in a good way). I love that you included Ann, whose insight is unparalleled. May I be the waiter at this party?

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    1. lifelessons's avatargrieflessons Post author

      I was rather hoping you’d be both in the kitchen and lurking around behind the guests, collecting tidbits. I knew you would love it, too, but four “unnotables” seemed to tip the balance too far. Knew you’d find a way to sneak in, though. Now I’m wishing I’d had a Tea Party religious zealot seated next to J.C. so he could give him a real talking-to. Oversight.

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  2. Doug Hammock's avatarDoug Hammock

    I’m thrilled you invited me! But I’d probably be annoyed that J.C. keeps turning everyone’s goblets of water into cheap wine. (Water’s fine for drinking, and it’s not for walking on.) Also, I’m really filling myself up on bread. It seems like every time I look, there’s another roll on my plate.

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  6. Ann O'Neal Garcia's avatarAnn O'Neal Garcia

    Patti, you are far too kind. I would sidle over to Geoffrey Chaucer and confide to him that I am getting to be an old woman whose body sometimes makes discomfiting noises. I would say to him, “Please, Geoffrey, if you hear anything like that from me, do not write, “This Annie O. anon let fle a fart/ As great as it had been a thonder-dent…” Please spare me. If I weren’t too shy and if I didn’t think Geoff would write nasty truths about me, I would slip back into my original chair and whisper to Jane Austen: “Gwyneth Hughes, whom you never met, is saying all sorts of things about you. I read that ‘She (meaning you, Jane) is shown to have been, at times, almost sick with longing for the security of a marital bed…’ I would like to know how you’d respond to Gwyneth.”
    Oh? really? You would play with the word “security” and exchange it for something more to the point? May I dash across the room and tell Geoff what you said. He just loves stuff like that.

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  7. lifelessons's avatargrieflessons Post author

    I wanted to include Sarah Palin as well but knew she would just get angry and leave if anyone challenged her infinite wisdom. She is probably keeping track of Rush so thought he would stand in for her.

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  10. Allenda Moriarty's avatarAllenda Moriarty

    Totally delightful. Enjoyed not only your poem with the interesting positioning of the fascinating guests, but also the comments that followed. I would put the roll basket farther away from the long arms of Mr. Doug Hammock or there won’t be any left for the rest of the guests. Toss Chaucer a roll, Doug.

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      Bet you want to come, don’t you, Calen? I didn’t know you so well when I last published this, but I’ll expand it to unlucky 13–and you can pick someone as a date to dispel the bad luck. Who would you choose, given the people already invited? Who would stir things up a bit?

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