11 June 2026

When Emily Cullen picked up her fifteen year old son from school, he had a big smile on his face. She was thankful. His English exam had gone well, she thought. Perhaps he remembered some Shakespeare quotes after all.

When they met up, she discovered that the exam had gone well but not because of Shakespeare but because of her. Amazingly enough, she had written a poem about her son when he was eight years old and now that poem had appeared in her son’s English exam seven years later!

She hadn’t been feeling good about her life. Her son was playing outside. She called him in for his dinner. He was writing something on the pavement with  a apiece of chalk. She looked more closely to see what he had written. ‘The world is great.’

She called her poem, ‘Envoi in Chalk’. The envoi refers to the contents of his chalked out words, ‘The world is great.’ The poet explained. ‘That message just elevated my whole day. It was just what I needed to remind me that there was beauty all around me and lots of wonder in the everyday.’

The poet felt compelled to capture the  moment. ‘And the poem just came out.’ she said. ’It literally wrote itself.’ In this regard, we are reminded of the Psalmist’s words, ‘Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength ..’ The ministry of children is vital, alert and often overlooked.

I'm calling my son from the end of the estate
when my eye snags on green pastel words.
He has chalked on the pavement:
The world is great

This is just the line I need to read,
my mother in hospital, my shoulder inflamed,
future employment uncertain,
Earth eyeballing Armageddon.

Yet how right, his perception.
He bolts up on his yellow scooter,
eight-year old fringe quiffed with gel,
on the cusp of the age of cool.