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.....