Jill McDougall has been writing poetry since second grade when she scribbled a verse in the dust on Miss Hoffman’s Hillman Hunter. It was quite a moving poem!

In 2000, Jill’s first published collection Anna the Goanna and other Poems was honoured as a Notable Book by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Jill went on to publish a second complete anthology, Put a Cockroach in my Muesli (Era Publications), as well as having poems included in A Passion for Poetry (PETA), 100 Australian Poems for Children (Random House) and Tadpoles in the Torrens (Wakefield Press).

Jill has also numerous poems included in national and international magazines but her favourite is the one she wrote on Miss Hoffman’s car:

Beep! Beep!

Toot! Toot!

Wash my windows,

Clean my boot!

Three (unpublished) poems from Jill McDougall ….

Summer

The sun is warm, the fish are biting

Snapper, squid and shoals of whiting

Ice-cream jingles sound inviting –

Summer’s on its way.

 

The breeze is up, the current’s running

Tourists bare their legs for sunning

Seagulls stealing chips are cunning –

Summer’s on its way.

 

The sky is bright, the waves are rolling

Zinc-nosed lifeguards are patrolling

Cricket-crazy kids are bowling –

Summer’s here  – let’s play!

© Jill McDougall

Lazy Bones

I never help around the house,

I never sweep or scrub

I never do the washing up

I never clean the tub.

 

I never put away my toys

I never make my bed,

When brooms are banged and pots are clanged

I’m hiding in the shed.

 

I never do a single chore,

I don’t! And that’s a fact.

I slink away and doze all day

Like any other cat.

© Jill McDougall

You can read more of Jill’s poems at http://www.jillmcdougall.com.au/