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.....