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