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