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.....