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.....