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.....