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.....