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.....