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.....