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.....