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 3. Reading a Spanish poet, Olvido García Valdés, I begin to notice her pronounced interest in the prosody of overheard speech. I begin to collect my own examples. In an ordinary situation that does not seem to require it, a person is being too emphatic in their speech prosody. They are theatricalizing an experience that is seemingly banal (or perhaps there is a hidden agenda?). There is a disparity in the situation and the style of speech being used. Or a person is stating opinions very confidently about things that essentially unknowable, or desperately wants your agreement about something that is ultimately of no consequence to either of you. I can listen with interest to these events without even caring about what is being said.