Perry, this poem is not meant to be about the difficulty of resetting all of the clocks, but only those clocks that one could never figure out how to set without consulting a manual. Many clocks are well labeled and straightforward in terms of how to set them. "Manual" does have an extra unstressed syllable, so I would call this poem loose iambic. But I am not sure that "user's guide" or any other synonym would work equally well.
Susan
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