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.....