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.....