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.....