— wound · andante · sixty —
black walnut pyramid, brass on the dial. someone wound it. nobody can say who. it has been ticking since at least last tuesday at this same dignified pace.
the weight is set at andante, sixty to the minute, which is also the heart rate of someone almost asleep. it stands on the closed lid of the piano. it is not measuring anything. there is no piece to measure. it merely keeps the time the house would have kept anyway, more loudly.
it was bought, two children ago, to discipline a practice. the practice has long since ended. the metronome did not stop being a metronome. when no one is listening — and no one is — it counts the same sixty intervals it has counted for an hour, and then another, and the room arranges itself, very faintly, around the beat.
field-note: the tock is harder than the tick. the room has learned which is which.ticking · clock room · the piano · time · silence