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.....