Relationship to Mother
The speaker's relationship to his mother is a prominent theme in this poem. The mother provides a stable base from which the speaker can venture out into the world and through his life. In his early years, the speaker reports metres and centimetres back to base, representing the way he would share all the little details of his life with his mother. As the speaker gets older, a natural distance forms between himself and his mother. Even when he is "two floors" above his mother in the metaphorical house, she continues to "pinch / the last one-hundredth of an inch" of tape. This shows the way that the mother continues to hold tight to her connection to the speaker despite his readiness for independence.
Coming of Age
This poem describes the coming of age of the speaker, who approaches adulthood with eagerness. Assisted by his mother's support and love, the speaker shows no fear of entering adulthood. In fact, he willingly climbs the ladder to the metaphorical "breaking point, where something has to give" in his relationship with his mother. The speaker's eagerness to forge his own independent identity is further shown by his reaching towards the hatch that opens "on an endless sky / to fall or fly." This endless sky represents the world that the speaker will inhabit as an adult. Rather than express fear or hesitation, the speaker readily accepts the possibilities of both failure and success.
Love and Distance
The fifteen lines of "Mother, Any Distance..." almost create a sonnet, a form that often deals with love. The love expressed in this poem is between the speaker and his mother, and the overall message is that though the mother will never stop loving her child, the speaker is ready for independence. The addition of an extra line disrupts the sonnet form and places emphasis on the last line, "to fall or fly." It is clear that the mother loves the speaker, but the disruption of the sonnet form suggests that the speaker feels a bit stifled by his mother's love.
This poem suggests that distance is a natural progression in a parent-child relationship as the child grows older and becomes more capable. The way the mother pinches the last remaining amount of measuring tape shows that she resists the growing distance between herself and the speaker. In some cultures, parents and children are not encouraged to create the kind of physical distance described in this poem. Thus the "breaking point, where something has to give" in the relationship between the speaker and his mother indicates the need for independence and distance, which can be considered not only on an individual level but also from a cultural context. Armitage does not focus on what he considers the ideal relationship between mother and child; rather, he describes a particular instance, perhaps shaped by his own upbringing.
