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