High in stature, but humble in spirit, best-selling author, educator, actress, director, dancer, mother and grandmother Ms Maya Angelou captivated a sell-out crowd at the Southampton Princess this weekend.

The honoured guest and only feature of Woman '95, Ms Angelou proved that she can inspire the most cynical, silence the most boisterous, and warm even the most stoic person. In short she proved to be a "phenomenal woman''.

And while she did not recite that poem, she highlighted the work of several African American poets.

With a voice as rich as the poetry she read, Ms Angelou told the estimated 600 in attendance that "poetry is starch in people's backbone''. "It encourages you to stay alive with pizzazz and stand erect.'' The 1994 Grammy Award winner for Best Spoken Word took the mesmerised crowd -- of young and old, black and white -- through a rollercoaster of emotions as she talked about her family, particularly her grandmother and her uncle Willie. They laughed genuinely when she laughed. They stood up three times to show their appreciation, and at times some were reduced to tears.

But one thing appeared to remain constant, the audience's attention.

They seemed to hang on every word that came from Ms Angelou's mouth, particularly the last ones of her poem "And Still I Rise''.

Their only regret, some said as they left, was that the evening had to come to an end.

"I could have listened to her all night,'' several said.

And Ms Angelou said her only regret was not visiting Bermuda sooner.

"I should have been coming here for years,'' she told those at a Press conference held earlier in the day.

At that meeting, Ms Angelou -- who has numerous achievements including being the second poet in US history to write and recite original work at the presidential inauguration -- said she was still striving to reach two goals.

"I'm trying to be a Christian,'' she said. "Being a Christian, a Moslem, a Jew, or Buddhist is serious business. One tries all day long and then at the end of the day if one has some courage, you check yourself out and think `umm I've only blown it 84 times'. But that is really what I'm trying to do. And I want to be a great writer.'' Having achieved so much despite many tribulations, including being raped as a child and becoming mute for several years -- experiences she shares with readers in her best-seller "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' -- Ms Angelou was asked what has helped her to endure.

"First my faith,'' she said without hesitation. "I am certain that I am a child of God. That humbles me. That makes me able to attempt anything honourable and fail at it and to forgive myself and go on.

"My difficulty, of course, arises after the fact that I must know that the brute, the bigot, the batterer is also a child of God. He may not know it. She may not know it. But it is incumbent upon me to know it.'' Ms Angelou said "a lively and ever-present sense of humour'' and "the blessing of being born black, coming from a going on people'' also helped her.

Ms Angelou, who speaks to young people at colleges worldwide and is the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University, said she also tries to remind youngsters that they might have to encounter defeat to find out who they really are, "but they must not be defeated''.

"It may be necessary to encounter defeat for the building of the character,'' she said, "because a diamond is a result of extreme time and pressure; less time it is crystal, less than that it is coal or fossilised fuel, or just dirt.'' Photos by Tamell Simons STAYING ALIVE WITH PIZZAZZ -- The many faces of world renowned poet and author Maya Angelou