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.....