— engine room · 08

engine room · 08 · centrifugal · slow now

the governor

two small brass weights at the end of two small brass arms. when the shaft turned fast, they lifted; when they lifted, they told the engine to take a breath. a temperance device.

nothing has asked it to govern for a long time. the arms hang almost to the shaft, like a person who has stopped arguing. they keep, between them, a record of the building's old hurry.

field-note · push the shaft by hand: the weights remember at once.

ticking · time · dynamo · pump

atlas · return