the  spire             
  
  once upon a time, there was a     
  benevolent  spire, towering well  
  above our tallest trees. it was   
  clad in white scales, and shaped  
         liked  a  mushroom.        
       we  loved  it  dearly.       
  
  it predated us  by  many  years,  
  and we did not know its original  
  builders.  they  had  used  its   
  hollow  body for  many  strange   
  purposes  -  a womblike place of  
  gestation, a  storage  of strage  
  fluids, a temple to some kind of  
     arcane   deity.                
  
    we  were   grateful  for  its   
   presence,  and  honored it  the  
   only  way  we   knew  how:  by   
        breaking        in.         
  
                                          
                                          
  
   this place we called our  city:  
   wavy and  fractured, with  each  
  courtyard on a different height,  
   roads  becoming  roofs becoming  
  drains.  and some  places,  like  
  the spire,  nobody  had accessed  
   for many years. once its  walls  
   are  just  too  high,  and the   
  internal routes to labyrinthine,  
  a place among others  is easily   
             overlooked.            
  
  so, basically,  that  summer the  
  four of us snuck and climbed and  
  crawled for weeks, searching for  
  a secluded place to do drugs and  
  play music on  our handhelds.     
   instead we  found  vast  lungs   
   drained  of   their  catalyst    
  sludge, and a birds-eye view to   
  make  sense of our roamings for   
          years  to  come.          
  
   a  central spine,  a  staircase  
   around it,  the seven toroidal   
  lungs stacked outside,  and  the  
  control room on top. the sockets  
  for its eyes. the smaller spires  
    for  radiating  consciousness   
            invitations.            
  
                                          
  
  in twenty fourteen, the tower is  
  toppled and  eaten by  machines.  
   after a while, something new is  
   conjured  in its place.  it's a  
  tiny maw at first, shorter than   
  us,  and  we  let  it  be.  our   
  journeys  still end at its feet.  
  
  but then we are  betrayed.  the   
   new tower eats  us.  others are  
  sucked inside. new buildings are  
  manifested  overnight,  only  to  
   disappear in the  evening  fog.  
  for  a while  its  some kind  of  
  timeshare scam. goons are placed  
  outside, and we  get beaten up a  
   few  times,  and  stop  going.   
  
   iirc it's  currently  owned by   
  some energy drink baron who uses  
   it to hold all his fourty eight  
             cars.....