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.....