WELCOME TO VIRTUAL DODO FOURTEEN - OCTOBER 2025
Welcome to
the 14th virtual show from Dodo Modern Poets. This programme takes our tally to
around 320 performances and contributions since launching in April 2020. We
thank everyone who has supported and enjoyed the project along the way.
Our
featured acts this month are Sophia Argyris and Nick
Alldridge both excellent and entertaining exponents of the spoken and
printed word. We are delighted to introduce Virtual Dodo 14 with their fine
readings. They are supported by a fine group of open mic contributors on video
and text.
SOPHIA ARGYRIS
Sophia
Argyris was born in Belgium, and is of British-Greek origin. Her work has
appeared in Mslexia, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry London, Poetry Wales and
Under the Radar. In 2024 she was placed in the Verve Poetry Competition. In
2025 she was shortlisted in the Live Canon competition and commended in the
Mslexia, Poetry Wales and Ware Poets competitions. She is author or ‘Heronless’
(Palewell Press, 2025) and her pamphlet ‘Blood Tundra’ is forthcoming with
Broken Sleep Books in 2026.
Instagram:@Sophia_argyris
Bluesky:@sophiaargyris.bsky.social
To buy a
copy of Heronless: https://palewellpress.co.uk/bookstore/environment/hrnl/
NICK
ALLDRIDGE
Nick was infected by poetry in the first decade of the millennium, initially as a way to sort his life out (with some success). He is now involved with multiple poetry groups in South London, he runs a writers group and is treasurer for Shortlands Poetry Circle, hosts poetry afternoons for PoemWrights and is a member of library groups and a stanza. He has two publications available through Palewell Press. His debut collection Playing with the Pieces which Palewell Press published in 2017 and is also available on Kindle..
VIDEO
JOSEPH HEALY
@kevinmorrispoet On the death of a writer #kevinmorrispoet #kmorrispoet #poetsoftiktok #tiktokpoetry #booktok #originalpoem #originalpoembyme #poetrylover #poetrylovers #kevinmorrisreadinghispoetry #rhyme #rhymingpoetry #writers #death #poemsaboutmortality #creativewriting ♬ original sound - Kevin Morris
TEXT
SUE JOHNS
Crossing the Line
Shrunken-cheeked, insect-limbed,
bulbous eyes outshine their existence,
in a skeletal sea of strange stars
a starving child
is something to behold.
Too soon for the mourning.
Quiet, ancient before time,
arms as nests, not enough of them
to nurse their punishment.
This is no accident.
Remaining with what remains
the mother of a starving child
is something to behold.
.
Pray that no one tells them.
How could you tell them?
Of the other mothers
on the other side
clutching babies across the border,
brandishing birth to chase off
the aid trucks.
Steely-eyed, heavy-breasted,
hushing nourished faces as if
to feed them to death.
JOHN SEPHTON
gaza dawn
As the murky sun rises through
ragged clouds of dawn, raptors
scour the cold wasteland, a wild
rose peeps out from the rubble.
How writing poetry keeps you out of trouble
If you’re sitting there writing,
you can’t be fighting, or lighting
a Molotov cocktail. You won’t be
consorting with thugs, or importing
drugs when sat in the snug with
your laptop. You won’t have time
for a life of crime; all your gains
will be well-gotten, your misdeeds
forgotten, nothing rotten in your
state of Denmark. And adultery,
drudgery, and general skullduggery
can all be avoided by writing
more poetry.
WENDY YOUNG
on the
eQuiTY -the age
of pretence is over
not on
the ‘QT’ but loudly age deserves eQuity
the age of
pretence is over
note to self
no one else-
we are all
trying
life
experience matters
the lioness
is stirring
on the bed
she had made – lying
to self to
friends to life
throat raw
the rroar
ageism stuck
in her craw
now the
furnace burns hot – melting
no more
resting her paws
hoping- to
be seen
she prowled
she howled she followed
now the age
of pretence is over
she is grrrowling
a south paw
stance – ‘we’re dancing’
in this age
there’s a chance
