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.....