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.....