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.....