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.....