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.....