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.....