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