five hours away  

in the airport bathroom stall next to me
a man is on the phone &
he's saying that he only drives
five hours to find a river 
where there's so many salmon 
the water is practically red with their scales
he laughs & the stall clinks
as he puts his hands up against 
the walls
which makes me think how 
close together bathroom stalls are 
he says that Hannah never wants
to go fishing with him 
& i wonder who Hannah is
a sister? a daughter? a wife?
a neighbor?
why doesn't she 
want to go fishing five hours away 
to a river where the water
is red with salmon?
then i wonder if he means
five hours away from the airport 
where we are or five hours
away from wherever he's from 
& he could be from anywhere
just like i could be from anywhere
& somewhere salmon are five hours away 
& they're rushing into the water
& Hannah doesn't want to go 
because she's tired of all this red
the red like sunburn on their backs 
they're rushing & the water is
hot with their scales
i Google videos of salmon 
from the stall next to this man
i watch salmon
i hear salmon in the pipes 
bodies jostling
i've never seen a salmon 
in real life but i hear them 
approaching ready to come out of the sink
when i wash my hands 
the man still in the stall next to me
i want to wait for him to come out
so i can know what his face looks like 
after listening to his voice 
maybe he wasn't there 
maybe it was all the salmon 
collaborating to speak to me
all the salmon somewhere five hours away
& i'm just here for a layover
this isn't even where i'm going 
the salmon will miss me 
the salmon want a plane to get away 
the salmon want escape
just like the man in the stall
& Hannah who won't come with him
who he lives & wants to throw
to the salmon 
& the salmon want to get on 
a plane instead of filling a stream
with their thrumming souls
they want to fly five hours away
to a new river where
this man can't drive to 
where no one can find them
& i leave after washing my hands
because i'm scared the sink might
burst with their scales
spilling out on the bathroom floor 
& thrashing