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.....