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.....