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.....