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.....