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.....