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.....