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.....