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.....