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.....