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.....