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.....