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.....