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.....