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.....