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.....