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.....