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.....