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.....