When Emily Cullen collected her son after his English exam, she assumed his smile indicated a positive outcome.
However, the Galway-based poet soon discovered that a poem she had composed seven years earlier, inspired by her son, had been included in the exam paper.
"He had a big, broad smile on his face and I thought, 'Oh that's good. He must have remembered some Shakespeare quotes'," Cullen said.
But he said "you won't believe it mum - the poem you wrote about me came up in the paper".
'Once-in-a-lifetime synchronicity'
The poem, titled Envoi in Chalk, appeared in a Junior Cycle English exam, which is the Irish equivalent of GCSEs.
Cullen wrote the poem after noticing a message her son Lee had written in chalk on a pavement when he was eight years old.
Reflecting on the moment she found out the poem was on the exam paper, Cullen, who serves as the Meskell Poet in Residence at the University of Limerick, described her reaction as one of disbelief.
"It was just the most flabbergasting moment. I kind of thought it felt like I was in another dimension," she told NI.
"A lot of things went through my head. Is this really happening? My own 15-year-old son answering a question on a poem that I've written?"
She recounted that she and Lee embraced before she called family members to share the news.
"I got quite emotional about it, as you would, and my breath was taken away, really. I was just kind of in a state of pleasant shock," she said.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime synchronicity."
'Wise decision'
Cullen stated she was unaware that the poem had been chosen for the exam.
After discussing with other poets whose work has appeared on state exam papers, she learned that the selection process is typically confidential until the exams occur.
The situation presented a minor dilemma for Lee during the exam.
His mother explained that he initially considered answering the question in the first person, since he was the inspiration for the poem, but ultimately decided the examiner might not accept that.
"So he responded in the third person, which was probably quite a wise decision," Cullen said.
'The world is great'
The poem was initially published as an Irish Times Poem of the Week before being included in Cullen's third poetry collection, Conditional Perfect.
She wrote it during a challenging period in her life.
At that time, her mother was hospitalized, and she felt that many things were not going well.
While calling Lee in for dinner, she noticed a chalk message he had written on a pavement near their home.
The message was simple: "The world is great."
"That message just elevated my whole day," she said.
"It was just what I needed to remind me that there was beauty all around me and lots of wonder in the everyday."
Cullen said she felt compelled to capture the moment immediately.
"And the poem just came out. It literally wrote itself," she said.
'Poetry is not a luxury'
Revisiting the poem seven years later has taken on additional significance.
Her mother has since passed away, and Cullen is now caring for her 95-year-old father, who recently returned home from hospital.
"I think things come in cycles," she said.
"We do have to kind of remind ourselves of the gifts that life is and the wonders all around us in abundance amid the darkness and the dark times."
Cullen, currently working on her fourth poetry collection, often reflects on a quote from the late American poet and activist Audre Lorde.
"Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence," Lorde wrote.
She emphasized the importance of poetry in life.
"I think poetry has a lot to add to our lives," Cullen said.
"We need those positive messages."
