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.....