Alarm

Strident is the word that comes to mind
On the phone
On the bus behind me
Speaking German
That I hear through noise canceling
AND music
It is a stereotype I know
“Strident” as adjective
To spoken German
Still, in this case it is exact
And hard to ignore
The man next to me
Adopts a two-handed grip
It tightens on his book
The Boys In the Boat
His head tilts and his facial muscles
Tense with concentration of the
Fight within his brain between words
His eyes reveal and words
His ears take in
I know some German
Most of it learned from
Submarine movies like
Alarm! Alaaaaarm!
Or
Dive! Dive! Dive!

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