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.....