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.....