analysing

• "the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors"

  acres and prairies are hyperbolic (over-exaggerated), the son is scared and nervous to move out and get further away from his mother.there's a lot of space which can be daunting but is also a good new opportunity
• "you at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape"

  his mother is at a fixed position, she won't go anywhere so the son can always come back anytime he needs or wants the support of his mother
• "back to base"

  the son still comes back to check on the mother, he needs/wants his mothers connection and support still even if he's moving on to the next chapter of his life.
• "unreeling years between us"

  unravelling, there is some distance between the mother and son. Their relationship won't stay the same once the son moves out, they will still have a connection but it won't be the same as before.
• "Anchor. Kite."

  the anchor is the mother. An anchor holds onto a ship by going down, it keeps the ship from floating away too far.the kite soars ahead into the sky, it feels free but is only able to go as far as the string holding onto it lets it.

  The mother needs to be able to leave the string and let the son move on and grow up.
• "I space walk through empty bedrooms"

  space walking is weightless/lofty, you have to fly up to get to space. It takes a lot of effort and support from others around you to be able to get you in shape to be sent to space.

  A mother prepares her child to get ready to go out to the world like an astronaut is prepared to get ready to be sent out to space.
• "your fingertips still pinch the last one-hundredth of an inch"

  mother will never completely leave her child, she will always hold onto even the smallest pieces of her son who she put unconditional love into bringing up.
• "I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly."

  the mother will let go of her child and the son will be free to go out into the "endless" world and will either "fall or fly"."Hatch" is like a baby bird who hatches out of an egg, it eventually has to take the leap of faith and learn how to fly. It will either "fall or fly"