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.....