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.....