She has made the world a better place, this poem is a positive addition to the world. Dividing the world into us and them is a illusion, we are all humans and part of the same story.
Ive stumbled upon your videos randomly, 10 seconds post pressing play I fell in love with your mind kudos miss keep up the amazing work your poems are so current in this post Wolwich britain we live in
Wow. again. I dislike poetry on my on language, and as an immigrant I don't even start in here, its hopeless. You have changed this. It has a flow, just cant stop listening. And the subjects you pick, and they way you handle them, just so toughtful but sharp. This is real art. Thank you.
I hope the popularity of Mathematics is bringing people to your other videos, after the hate & bile I've seen on some social media in the last few weeks this is a breath of fresh air. Thank you
Hi Hollie, just wanted to say I saw one of your poems "Mathematics" some time ago on Facebook and absolutely loved it. I have posted it a few times to people that I know, who don't think that they are racist but from time to time try and blame our economy on immigrants purely because of what they read in newspapers or what somebody down the local pub told them. Listening to your poem has opened their eyes. Just wanted to tell you that your fantastic words do make a difference x
Thank you for reminding me that I love poetry. Being direct, being able to see your face, enables you to get through to me in a way I forgot. I have albums with spoken word tracks I skip, they leave me feeling down when I can't see there's someone else out there like me. And I did not put on music to be depressed. So by all means experiment with your art, see how many you can get to listen, but please do not forget that you got through to me so simply. A fan as of 11:13AM, 05/07/13
I really love this poem, it portrays brilliantly how i feel about this country right now. I just keep listening to it on repeat. Please continue to write poetry, it's fantastic :)
You are such an inspiration. I mean it. Everyone of my generation goes on about Marilyn Monroe being their inspiration, but I don't get it, what has she ever done to inspire them? You, on the other hand, you speak the truth. You see life from a different perspective and you help me do so to. You study every aspect of human motives and put them into words. This is what an inspiration should be like; just like you, Hollie McNish.
Just found your videos! You have real talent and are sending out an important message in an original way truly inspiring. Thank you - keep them coming x
I have one. I am trying to decide whether to put it on my album. I've written loads about tea, the tea trade and my love and hate of Britain. Will post the love side at some point for sure x
Your poem makes me smile. I think it is because the complaining couple really don't know what they are saying. I remember my Grandad would complain about foreign food while he was enjoying his Danish bacon for breakfast. "I won't eat foreign muck" he would say "only British" I never said anything to him though. He loved his New Zealand lamb as well. Your poem is sad too - I guess nothing has changed much, has it?
This is the most beautiful poem i've heard in a very very long time if not in my life, i love how you combined politics and everyday life... beautiful and true talent you have... god bless you.
we need to make things more accessible to speak to young people in language that's less...stressful inspire kids to want to hear the news not just digest it but form their own own views with smartphones and .com's there just is no excuse we've become disengaged they've locked our minds in cages by using selective evidence facts that don't add up but still seem relevant. it's videos like this can help make a change, so that being open minded won't seem so strange. thanks hollie x
A lot of the food stuffs we use are indeed imported from other Countries, like every other European Country. What we consume does not make us British. You are very talented, I`d love to hear a poem about your love of the UK. x
thank so much. I know loads of people thing replying to comments is a waste but it helps me see what people think and yeah, how many conclusions they jump to - it's a little scary!
What A Masterpiece...As A Mongrel Myself, I had My Head Kicked In, In Great Britain For Being Spanish...!!! And My Head Kicked In, In Spain For Being English...!! And Then They Ask Me, Your Parents Are Spanish You Were Born In England....Which Country Are You From? I Say I Don't Recognise Borders, But I Am The Best Of Both Worlds....A Mongrel.
Your line about local farm shops is the most astute - if we reintroduced protectionist trade policies, the people in your poem would be the first ones to complain and would smuggle cheaper imports in, just as they do with tobacco! The great paradox of the English (as opposed to British) they scrounge off other cultures and adopt what they've scrounged as their own - and then sneer at other people for having kept what's theirs. (I am English, by the way, though was born and brought up abroad.)
Thank you for this poem. I like it very, very much. The hypocrisy it describes rings absolutely true with me. And it works with cultural matters in every respect as well as food products or anything else. As it happens my dad's parents were East European Jewish immigrants into the East End of London, more than 100 years ago. I and my family are rather atheistic immigrants into Italy. I wonder if it would translate well into Italian, because I think this poem speaks about hypocrisy here too.
They don't learn Spanish, and retire to Majorca ! ! ! Awesome poem. Plain as day but not preachy - just statements. Rhythm tight. The clusters of nail-like sounds in the product and time narrative. Alternating with relaxed cadence of their complaints. Very nice.
That's 'I and other people' - don't worry, other people confuse 'me', 'myself' and 'I'. Chris Patten's last speech as Governor of Hong Kong uses 'myself' incorrectly twice, but it didn't stop it from being a moving one. (And to be fair, he did write it at short notice and was very emotional!)
An inspiration, keep em coming, speaking volumes, they are fine without beats but if you wanted to you could reach more people with beats, or even synth sounds, never stop!
I can't post URLs here unfortunately but I just did a search on "immigration cap in UK" and "immigration cap in Canada" and found newsstories about both.
Apologies for your second point. I do agree that you don;t have to be born in Britain to be 'from here' and I didn't mean for it to sound like I do. It is not really about assimilation. Just acknowledging that Britain is an amalgamation of influences. I don't expect or want everyone to assimilate completely, Brits in Spain included. And I guess I think the use of it in schools to talk about "Britishness' and where that comes from is potentially helpful. Lots of people are in between.
In what way do you see that happening - the diluting of our culture? And what do you mean, I mean specific ideas of our culture. I have my ideas but not all the same. And what do you think about when cultures come together to create new ideas / new cultures combining?
I love your poetry! I've watched your videos numerous times and each time, I am still impressed. This time I watched 'A British National Breakfast', I saw something interesting at 1.18. I thought it was a shooting star go past from out the window...but I don't know. Any ideas?
The local farm shops I agree is part of another point. Wage depreciation etc being a good thing if it's people's wages abroad giving us cheaper goods here and not if it's happening here. I agree re smuggling. It is an unbalanced seesaw I think we need to recognise too. And thanks again for the last comment.
And by stating that foreign goods, people, services, culture, money, ideas, research etc has also had a role to play in shaping Britain, doesn't say I think it is a shitty country. It just says that foreign people, goods, services, culture, money, ideas, research, have also had a role to play in shaping Britain, a country I love a lot. Accepting the role of those outside our island shores doesn't negate that or say anything about what people who are born and live here do for the country too.
Yeah it is often horrendous, as it is with tea pickers, the fruit trade, palm oil plantations and on and on. I know there are limits to how good the ideas are but that is why fair trading standards are so needed. And not forcing the lowest prices for consumers. Horrendous
35 years ago we introduced right to buy, at the same time as laws to restrict councils' ability to build more houses. And now we have not only a shortage of housing, but the issue where housing benefit costs us more because it's going into private pockets instead of to councils. As for homes built by Brits for Brits, immigration was encouraged by the government after WWII, to help rebuild the country. But while the migrants helped build, it's true they weren't allowed to move into those houses.
Thanks for this. I'm not confusing them, I understand the difference between trade and immigration. It is the hypocrisy of our ideals of Britishness I'm questioning, economically and culturally. And agree that the further hypocrisy is in our lack of complaint when low wages abroad allow us cheap goods, but if those wages move into our employment, only then we fight for stabilised and minimum wages.
I'm not sure. I think people realise more. But it's a good balance between admit foreign services etc and buying local too, which I also do a lot. Danish bacon bankrupted the British bacon industry almost and made loads of workers unemployed. But the issues behind protectionism vs global competitiveness vs workers conditions etc are never fully spoken about and there's so much bloody confusion and narrow mindedness. "Foreign muck' is a phrase I hear a lot though, it's nuts really
Hi. I'm 30. I have lived in other countries and cultures, including those where homosexuality is illegal, I couldn't go out by myself at night or go for a drink or dance without a male chaperone. I think Britain is a bloody amazing country and have lots of poetry about being thankful for being born here, living here and all the opportunities it gives. I have not said Britain is shitty, I only feel that we should acknowledge that it is not insular in economy, culture or otherwise. That's all.
No they are not to blame and yes, it does effect different groups differently and I agree, it effects many working class (not just white) most negatively in direct employment terms. But neither the immigrant nor working class (mainly) man is to blame. A global system which races wages to the bottom is. Outsourcing and increased mechanisation is also prevented through low wage immigration and is a big argument in this respect too. IE business will leave / push to mechanise to lower wages too.
I wish I was half as intelligent and articulate as you. I can't put into words how you enhance the beauty of the English language.
She has made the world a better place, this poem is a positive addition to the world. Dividing the world into us and them is a illusion, we are all humans and part of the same story.
Everything you say is just true and to the point. It's nice to see that some people are still sane.
An absolutely brilliant poet.
Ive stumbled upon your videos randomly, 10 seconds post pressing play I fell in love with your mind kudos miss keep up the amazing work your poems are so current in this post Wolwich britain we live in
Wow. again. I dislike poetry on my on language, and as an immigrant I don't even start in here, its hopeless. You have changed this. It has a flow, just cant stop listening. And the subjects you pick, and they way you handle them, just so toughtful but sharp. This is real art. Thank you.
Your poetry is out of this world, such beauty and honesty!
So glad I found these, a voice of reason put forward in a great way.
I hope the popularity of Mathematics is bringing people to your other videos, after the hate & bile I've seen on some social media in the last few weeks this is a breath of fresh air. Thank you
You, lady, are brilliant. So much love for this.
I really like your lexical choices.
No faff, succinct and scathingly true about certain aspects of our society.
Keep speaking your mind, dear.
You have a brilliant sense of the absurd. Legendary social commentary.
Yes, preach! My new favourite spoken word poet!
Hi Hollie, just wanted to say I saw one of your poems "Mathematics" some time ago on Facebook and absolutely loved it. I have posted it a few times to people that I know, who don't think that they are racist but from time to time try and blame our economy on immigrants purely because of what they read in newspapers or what somebody down the local pub told them. Listening to your poem has opened their eyes. Just wanted to tell you that your fantastic words do make a difference x
You're amazing. Please continue.
I love your poems, you should make more videos because I have watched all of yours and want to see more :)
Hollie,
I really like what you say. Telling it how it is; it's so important to spread these kind of messages.
you are truely amazing! loved listening to it many times.
I like this poem, a lot of truth spoken in rhyme, great ending!
Love you, Hollie....you speak such truths that may be uncomfortable for many to accept. Keep up the good work, girl! x
Fair play, you are quality. Put more up please!
And yes, I do have patriotic poems and things I love about Britain - some of which is in this poem. Wisteria, Tea, A Place in the Sun!!
You're brilliant. I've watched all of your videos and I have happily subscribed to your channel. Thank you so much. x
Thank you for reminding me that I love poetry. Being direct, being able to see your face, enables you to get through to me in a way I forgot. I have albums with spoken word tracks I skip, they leave me feeling down when I can't see there's someone else out there like me. And I did not put on music to be depressed. So by all means experiment with your art, see how many you can get to listen, but please do not forget that you got through to me so simply.
A fan as of 11:13AM, 05/07/13
I really love this poem, it portrays brilliantly how i feel about this country right now. I just keep listening to it on repeat. Please continue to write poetry, it's fantastic :)
You are such an inspiration. I mean it. Everyone of my generation goes on about Marilyn Monroe being their inspiration, but I don't get it, what has she ever done to inspire them? You, on the other hand, you speak the truth. You see life from a different perspective and you help me do so to. You study every aspect of human motives and put them into words. This is what an inspiration should be like; just like you, Hollie McNish.
Love the punchline at the end. Great stuff, Hollie!!
Hollie! This and Mathematics are amazing! You are amazing! What a wonderfull spoken word! Love your work! Keep on posting please x
Keep being brave, keep banging your drum. Your poems make me smile.
And Hollie your poetry is as inspiring as your way of thinking.thank you :)
Clever, sharp and poignant. I do like your poetry :)
Just found your videos! You have real talent and are sending out an important message in an original way truly inspiring. Thank you - keep them coming x
Perfectly ended and incredibly well put.
This is amazing she's inspirational!
I have one. I am trying to decide whether to put it on my album. I've written loads about tea, the tea trade and my love and hate of Britain. Will post the love side at some point for sure x
i love your videos they are so good. if only more people understood things the way you do the world would be a better place
Your poem makes me smile. I think it is because the complaining couple really don't know what they are saying. I remember my Grandad would complain about foreign food while he was enjoying his Danish bacon for breakfast. "I won't eat foreign muck" he would say "only British" I never said anything to him though. He loved his New Zealand lamb as well. Your poem is sad too - I guess nothing has changed much, has it?
Such a good video, you're incredibly talented!
thanks for this and for your honesty x
Or i guess I hope they do! Thanks for your comment, it was really interesting and I'm real glad I made you smile!
Thank you, that was touching x
This is the most beautiful poem i've heard in a very very long time if not in my life, i love how you combined politics and everyday life... beautiful and true talent you have... god bless you.
Love your poetry! Where can I buy it? Id love to keep it and read it. Im from Norway. Cheers :)
we need to make things more accessible
to speak to young people in language that's less...stressful
inspire kids to want to hear the news
not just digest it but form their own own views
with smartphones and .com's there just is no excuse
we've become disengaged
they've locked our minds in cages
by using selective evidence
facts that don't add up but still seem relevant.
it's videos like this can help make a change,
so that being open minded won't seem so strange.
thanks hollie x
I think it's a piece of dust reflecting the light, as it comes into the room rather than passing the window.
You could start by buying her a drink! :)
Only joking. Fantastic poem Hollie, as are all the others you have uploaded.
A lot of the food stuffs we use are indeed imported from other Countries, like every other European Country. What we consume does not make us British. You are very talented, I`d love to hear a poem about your love of the UK. x
thanks - that was a really nice and helpful comment x
Thank you, that was a really nice thing to say x
I've just listened to all your videos and wow, if I could ever be an ounce as good as you I would be so happy.
thank so much. I know loads of people thing replying to comments is a waste but it helps me see what people think and yeah, how many conclusions they jump to - it's a little scary!
What A Masterpiece...As A Mongrel Myself, I had My Head Kicked In, In Great Britain For Being Spanish...!!! And My Head Kicked In, In Spain For Being English...!!
And Then They Ask Me, Your Parents Are Spanish You Were Born In England....Which Country Are You From? I Say I Don't Recognise Borders, But I Am The Best Of Both Worlds....A Mongrel.
Your line about local farm shops is the most astute - if we reintroduced protectionist trade policies, the people in your poem would be the first ones to complain and would smuggle cheaper imports in, just as they do with tobacco!
The great paradox of the English (as opposed to British) they scrounge off other cultures and adopt what they've scrounged as their own - and then sneer at other people for having kept what's theirs. (I am English, by the way, though was born and brought up abroad.)
thanks! That's a real compliment
The best thing I've heard in ages.
You are, quite simply, fantastic!
Cool, will do. I've got a lot of poems to put up! x
Thank you for this poem. I like it very, very much. The hypocrisy it describes rings absolutely true with me. And it works with cultural matters in every respect as well as food products or anything else.
As it happens my dad's parents were East European Jewish immigrants into the East End of London, more than 100 years ago. I and my family are rather atheistic immigrants into Italy. I wonder if it would translate well into Italian, because I think this poem speaks about hypocrisy here too.
thank means a HUGE amount. So thank you x
Thanks Hollie! That was brilliant. :)
BEAUTIFUL!! Poem Summarized: "complaining about 'foreigners' joining their country,
forgetting the source of their dear British money"
They don't learn Spanish, and retire to Majorca ! ! !
Awesome poem. Plain as day but not preachy - just statements.
Rhythm tight. The clusters of nail-like sounds in the product and time narrative. Alternating with relaxed cadence of their complaints. Very nice.
That's 'I and other people' - don't worry, other people confuse 'me', 'myself' and 'I'. Chris Patten's last speech as Governor of Hong Kong uses 'myself' incorrectly twice, but it didn't stop it from being a moving one. (And to be fair, he did write it at short notice and was very emotional!)
Ahh, I was so lost in pessemism with my own writing, but you've totally energised me. Your verse is a much needed a relief, thank you!
As I wrote below... i just did a google search and found limits mentioned for Canada and the UK. It took me 7 seconds to find.
Hey Hollie, It's Megan, the one who gave you the poem about bullying when you visited st barts in newbury!
Thanks and really glad x
Absolutely brilliant.
Come do a gig in Manchester! You are a legend...
Perhaps look at Mothers Ruin and David Hoyle... :)
An inspiration, keep em coming, speaking volumes, they are fine without beats but if you wanted to you could reach more people with beats, or even synth sounds, never stop!
I can't post URLs here unfortunately but I just did a search on "immigration cap in UK" and "immigration cap in Canada" and found newsstories about both.
thanks so much
beautiful, thank you !
Apologies for your second point. I do agree that you don;t have to be born in Britain to be 'from here' and I didn't mean for it to sound like I do. It is not really about assimilation. Just acknowledging that Britain is an amalgamation of influences. I don't expect or want everyone to assimilate completely, Brits in Spain included. And I guess I think the use of it in schools to talk about "Britishness' and where that comes from is potentially helpful. Lots of people are in between.
In what way do you see that happening - the diluting of our culture? And what do you mean, I mean specific ideas of our culture. I have my ideas but not all the same. And what do you think about when cultures come together to create new ideas / new cultures combining?
I love your poetry! I've watched your videos numerous times and each time, I am still impressed. This time I watched 'A British National Breakfast', I saw something interesting at 1.18. I thought it was a shooting star go past from out the window...but I don't know. Any ideas?
I love her!
The local farm shops I agree is part of another point. Wage depreciation etc being a good thing if it's people's wages abroad giving us cheaper goods here and not if it's happening here. I agree re smuggling. It is an unbalanced seesaw I think we need to recognise too. And thanks again for the last comment.
And by stating that foreign goods, people, services, culture, money, ideas, research etc has also had a role to play in shaping Britain, doesn't say I think it is a shitty country. It just says that foreign people, goods, services, culture, money, ideas, research, have also had a role to play in shaping Britain, a country I love a lot. Accepting the role of those outside our island shores doesn't negate that or say anything about what people who are born and live here do for the country too.
Well yes but what I meant was my high school gave me the link to this video and basically I just had to list the foreign food products you mentioned.
This is actually my summer homework
You're right, I should write a poem with a hip hop vibe and then you'll feel so much better about it and feel progressive.
Yeah it is often horrendous, as it is with tea pickers, the fruit trade, palm oil plantations and on and on. I know there are limits to how good the ideas are but that is why fair trading standards are so needed. And not forcing the lowest prices for consumers. Horrendous
Ur words r so inspiring, I'd love to pick ur brain sometime .. I read n watch ur videos everyday since one of my friends told me about .. Much respect
Brilliant!
thanks so much x
I love u Hollie!!!!
You're brilliant.
This is brilliant. Check out Billy Bragg's England Half English, very similar sentiments. :)
wow i have to do something on this for homework im crying
They dont learn spanish and they retire in majorca lol. CLASSIC!!!
35 years ago we introduced right to buy, at the same time as laws to restrict councils' ability to build more houses. And now we have not only a shortage of housing, but the issue where housing benefit costs us more because it's going into private pockets instead of to councils. As for homes built by Brits for Brits, immigration was encouraged by the government after WWII, to help rebuild the country. But while the migrants helped build, it's true they weren't allowed to move into those houses.
Thanks for this. I'm not confusing them, I understand the difference between trade and immigration. It is the hypocrisy of our ideals of Britishness I'm questioning, economically and culturally. And agree that the further hypocrisy is in our lack of complaint when low wages abroad allow us cheap goods, but if those wages move into our employment, only then we fight for stabilised and minimum wages.
I'm not sure. I think people realise more. But it's a good balance between admit foreign services etc and buying local too, which I also do a lot. Danish bacon bankrupted the British bacon industry almost and made loads of workers unemployed. But the issues behind protectionism vs global competitiveness vs workers conditions etc are never fully spoken about and there's so much bloody confusion and narrow mindedness. "Foreign muck' is a phrase I hear a lot though, it's nuts really
Fantastic.
!!! I know, my little one was shining the light in my face! I'm not great at the filming!
Hi. I'm 30. I have lived in other countries and cultures, including those where homosexuality is illegal, I couldn't go out by myself at night or go for a drink or dance without a male chaperone. I think Britain is a bloody amazing country and have lots of poetry about being thankful for being born here, living here and all the opportunities it gives. I have not said Britain is shitty, I only feel that we should acknowledge that it is not insular in economy, culture or otherwise. That's all.
So long as the bacon is crispy, I don't care.
greeting from indonesia, altough it's hard for me to hear the whole poem... but i like it.
No they are not to blame and yes, it does effect different groups differently and I agree, it effects many working class (not just white) most negatively in direct employment terms. But neither the immigrant nor working class (mainly) man is to blame. A global system which races wages to the bottom is. Outsourcing and increased mechanisation is also prevented through low wage immigration and is a big argument in this respect too. IE business will leave / push to mechanise to lower wages too.