Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood

Hollie McNish

There were many things that Hollie McNish didn’t know before she was pregnant. How her family and friends would react; that Mr Whippy would be off the menu; how quickly ice can melt on a stomach. These were on top of the many other things she didn’t know about babies: how to stand while holding one; how to do a poetry gig with your baby as an audience member; how drum’n‘bass can make a great lullaby. And that’s before you even start on toddlers.
But Hollie learned. And she’s still learning, slowly.

Nobody Told Me is a collection of poems and stories; Hollie’s thoughts on raising a child in modern Britain, of trying to become a parent in modern Britain, of sex, commercialism, feeding, gender and of finding secret places to scream once in a while.

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Roedd llawer o bethau nad oedd Hollie McNish yn gwybod cyn iddi feichiogi. Sut byddai ei theulu a’i ffrindiau yn ymateb; byddai hufen ia Mr Whippy oddi ar y fwydlen; pa mor gyflym y gall rhew doddi ar stumog. Roedd y rhain ynghyd a nifer o bethau eraill nad oedd hi’n eu gwybod am fabanod: sut i sefyll wrth ddal babi; sut i wneud gig barddoniaeth gyda’ch babi fel aelod o’r gynulleidfa; sut gall drwm a bas wneud hwiangerdd wych. A hynny cyn i chi hyd yn oed ddechrau ar blant bach. Ond mi ddysgodd Hollie. Ac mae hi’n dal i ddysgu’n araf.

Casgliad o gerddi a straeon yw Ddywedodd neb Wrtha i; meddyliau Hollie ar fagu plentyn yn y Brydain fodern, o geisio dod yn rhiant ym Mhrydain fodern, o ryw, masnacheiddio, bwydo, rhywedd ac o ddod o hyd i leoedd cudd i sgrechian o bryd i’w gilydd.