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.....