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.....