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.....