Anthology - Mother, any distance

Mother, any distance greater than a single span

requires a second pair of hands.

You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors,

the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors.

You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording

length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving

up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling

years between us. Anchor. Kite.

I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb

the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something

has to give;

two floors below your fingertips still pinch

the last one-hundredth of an inch … I reach

towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky

to fall or fly.

THEMES:

FORM:

dramatic monologue
- suggests independence and growing up
extended sonnet form
- suggests uncertainty about love of mother
- extra line suggests hesitation around growing up

STRUCTURE:

uneven rhyme scheme
- suggests imbalance in relationship
- represents fear of growing up
irregular metre
- represents fear of growing up
irregular stanza
- represents uncertainty about letting go
enjambment
- creates a conversational tone and makes the relationship seem natural

LANGUAGE:

semantic field of exploration
- hyperbole, metaphors, natural imagery, measurement imagery - “the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors“
- one-word sentences, semantic field of flight, caesura, metaphor - “anchor. kite.“
- plosive alliteration, semantic field of flight, metaphor - “back to base“
uneven rhyme scheme, measurement imagery - “still pinch // the last one-hundredth of an inch“
fricative alliteration, semantic field of flight, period - “to fall or fly.“
direct address, personal pronouns - “you come to help me”
extended metaphor, time imagery, enjambment - “unreeling // years between us“
plosive alliteration, enjambment, extended metaphor - “to breaking point, where something // has to give“
measurement imagery, extended metaphor, direct address - “you at the zero-end“

CONTEXT: