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.....