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.....