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.....