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.....