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.....