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.....