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.....