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.....