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.....