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.....