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.....