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.....