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.....