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.....