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.....