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.....