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.....