I did considered the spook effect that Lovecraft would have on me while stranded on a deserted island. Hahaha.zan wrote: HP Lovecraft would be fun, but would make me jump at every strange bubble in the water, every shadow behind a tree, every strange cloud ha ha. Spooky stuff! I would pick Shakespeare as well for this reason. I have a big nice edition of his complete works as well. I like your want to bring poetry. I hadn't considered it, I need more education in poetry clearly as it didn't even cross my mind.
As to poetry, I'd say too few people appreciate the art. Very few love it. But they're missing out. It's like music, only all the beauty comes from the words, so the words have to be carefully selected and arranged, because to have too many of them harms the affect of the poem - weak words harm the affect, as does a word that is too vague, or to precise. There's a time for each. It's important to choose right one depending on what the writer wants to accomplish. When chosen sparingly and carefully with a clear intent to meaning, with a mind to how they sound to the ear, how they feel to speak out loud, how their meanings, when bound together, create a new and unexpected meaning -- they're wonderful.
I think people don't appreciate Poetry because they're usually exposed to it in the literary fashion of school, where they're right away expected to analyse the poems they're given instead of just being allowed to perform them, or hear them performed, for the sake of performance and pleasure. (or they're expected to create a poem before they've heard many of them and come to enjoy them - I have the same criticism of how kids are taught to write fiction. Just don't bother. Teach them to journal, teach them to record, to put the period in the right place. Encourage them to read much. Encourage them to discover how much they like, or dislike, fiction. Then those that wish to write it can be instructed, the rest can get along with writing simple, clear, effective emails free of literary aims) Perhaps if more parents bought books of kids poetry and read them with their kids without the pretense that their kids should appreciate them 'correctly', we'd have more kids growing to like the form, if nothing else.
EDIT: There's a thread here of member's home-brewed poetry. Please excuse the several bad poems I added to it. https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=16065