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.....