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.....