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.....