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.....