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.....