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.....