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.....