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.....