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.....