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.....