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