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.....