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.....