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.....