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.....