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.....