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.....