Poem of the week: Envoi in chalk

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.

Emily Cullen has published three collections, No Vague Utopia and In Between Angels and Animals (Arlen House) and Conditional Perfect (Doire Press)