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.....