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.....