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