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.....