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.....