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.....