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.....