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.....