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