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.....