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