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.....