IRON CIRCLES

Iron circles. Wright Park, Tacoma, Washington. Saturday 04 April 2015.

UTILILTY ACCESS COVERS

Newly born into the world, your water has been sampled, your pressure has been checked.

Cylindrical. Freshly painted yellow by the Pipe Cowboy. Metal. Water. Erect.

The signifier of the new water loop. The central point.

Guarding a bevy of posts and poles that diagnose and monitor, report and alert, you alone allow access to the main. You stand firm, basking in your importance.

You point skyward to the clouds that drip their essence onto soil and pavement and roofs, to be gathered in gutters and gullies, delivered to swales and ponds and aquifers, whereupon their waters will return to you, where you point skyward.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

---

(And then they secretly wrapped you. For safekeeping.)

UTILITY ACCESS COVER

Hidden water.

UTILITY ACCESS COVERS

A doorway to another world, another place, another time.

Rectangular. Rusted welded writing on silver. Metal. Electrical. Inset.

This is ELECTRiC High-VoLTAgE and don’t you forget it.


This is how we do things here on Mount Rainier.

This is rough and tumble. This is tough and ready for a fight.

This is The West. This is Frontier. This is The Land of the Dead.

The land of tomorrow. The land of no tomorrow.

Now it's "make or break" time.

Say your prayers.

Do not touch.

UTILITY ACCESS COVERS

A covert operation.

Rectangular. Polished brass. Metal. Electrical. Slightly upraised.

Nested faceplates. Four within two within one frame. Screws to lock each faceplate in place.

Do NOT enter.

A new idea. A new place. Indoors.

This one is interior. On the carpeted floor. Between stacks of books and videos and DVDs. Puyallup Library.

"Can I photograph some of the fixtures and features of the library?"
Silence. Stares.

Our manager doesn't like photos taken of the staff or of patrons. This is one to whom I do not speak.

"Yes, I understand that. Am I allowed to photograph features of the building?"

The hostility is palpable even though they assent.

That was a different day.

Today, the camera gazes without permission.

The child is the foil. The charm.

I crouch. The cover sings.

UTILITY ACCESS COVERS

This one is a beauty.

Round. A rich, weathered chocolate. Metal. Telephone. Inset.

Approximately two feet in diameter. Large and looming.

The teeth of the gear, inside and out, number twelve. Biblical. The number of perfection. 3 x 4. 3 the number of holiness, of God. 4 the number of creation. Holiness and God multiplied by the realm of mineral and flora and fauna.

Each circle of hexagons also numbers twelve. Clock-like. This time is not your time.

The words in the center of the gear: U.S. West Communications. The bell.

You can almost hear the ringing.

You can almost hear the singing of the Holy of Holies at the foot of the throne. "Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest."

You can almost imagine the phone lines that snake underneath. Line upon line wrapped together into a cable as thick as a young girl's calf. Cable upon cable wrapped together into the thickness of a man's torso.

It guards the sidewalk that approaches Union Station.

It waits for you to notice, chameleon-like. Then it springs upon you.

You are weak.

You are weak to resist.

You cannot resist.

UTILITY ACCESS COVERS

I have recently become obsessed with Utility Access Covers.

It doesn't matter what kind, although I prefer circular covers over rectangular.

I also prefer those that are painted to those that are not.

I probably need to be taking measurements of those I photograph, because the way that I have cropped these photographs it appears that they are all of similar size. In this case, that is true, but it can mislead. Some covers are three inches in diameter, others two feet. Most are somewhere in between. I like those the best.

Utility Access Cover #1 is my favorite. Round. Red. Metal. Gas. Inset. Hard not to notice in the sidewalk.

Utility Access Cover #2 is my third favorite. Round. Weathered green. Plastic. Irrigation. Upraised. Not immediately noticeable.

Utility Access Cover #3 is my least favorite. Rectangular. Silver. Metal. Water meter. Inset. A slab of protective concrete to set it apart from the landscape. I still like it, though, just less than the others.

Utility Access Cover #4 is my second favorite. Round. White. Metal. Gas. Inset. It tries to blend in with its surroundings. It is, however, more noticeable than some because of its proximity to Utility Access Cover #1, which draws attention to all within its general vicinity.

If you ever desire to view these four for yourself, then you need to take a trip to Freighthouse Square in Tacoma. All four of these are on the sidewalk outside of the Tacoma Dome Station parking garage. How will you find them? It seems that coordinate recording is also in order. Where are these? What are their exact locations?

There is a need to know. You must know.

A travel guide for Utility Access Covers is in order. You must not deny yourself.

I must not deny myself.