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.....