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.....