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.....