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.....