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.....