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.....