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.....