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.....