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