"Clockwork" describes a bad situation that nobody seems to have caused. The opening calls it a disaster and a nightmare "waiting to come alive," as if something terrible is already scripted and only needs to happen. The line about writing the script but being unable to edit mistakes suggests a feeling of regret, or of being locked into a path once it has begun.
The middle of the poem is strange and uneasy. No snowstorm or hurricane arrives, yet the air feels blazing hot, even though no instrument can measure it. Only intuition says so, which makes the danger seem internal and hard to prove. The speaker, speaking to "you," feels "awake and senseless," alert but numb, while colour and taste become distractions.
The ending removes any easy explanation: no target, no hero, no villain, just ticking. The mood is tense, numbing and fatalistic. Things simply keep moving, and the person caught in them can only notice it.