the    train    is   a   dashing   arrow 
 over               the              sea. 
                                     
                                    
                                     
 look   closer   -   it's    not   water. 
                                    
                                  
                                    
 the lowland which  was once  the midriff 
 of  sweden.  the  salt  flats  span  for 
 hundreds  of  miles. from a  narrow line 
 of  hills the train  lowers itself  onto 
 the crystals and  shoots north,  like  a 
 syringe       into       a       baloon. 
                                  
                                
                                  
                                
                                  
 they call  it  the  "mandelbrot crater", 
 and it is the rest of a mining disaster. 
                                    
                                   
                                    
 sun  hits the  four-railed track, as  it 
 fractures into  villages  or past  them. 
 the  people here  are  pale  but  crisp, 
 reflections   of   some   other    world 
                                     
                                    
                                     
 they always seem  a bit annoyed that you 
 are  manifesting   them   into  physical 
 form. like  if  you weren't  here,  they 
 would  be  nothing  more  than  the  sun 
 against           the           platform