Gold foil illustration of stars

Faces in a Crowd

Catching Glimpses of Humanity from a Distance
a crowd of people looking to the left

We all have our little solipsistic delusions, ghastly intuitions of utter singularity: that we are the only one in the house who ever fills the ice-cube tray, who unloads the clean dishwasher, who occasionally pees in the shower, whose eyelid twitches on first dates; that only we take casualness terribly seriously; that only we fashion supplication into courtesy; that only we hear the whiny pathos in a dog’s yawn, the timeless sigh in the opening of the hermetically-sealed jar, the splattered laugh in the frying egg, the minor-D lament in the vacuum’s scream; that only we feel the panic at sunset the rookie kindergartner feels at his mother’s retreat. That only we love the only- we. That only we need the only-we. Solipsism binds us together.... That we feel lonely in a crowd; stop not to dwell on what’s brought the crowd into being. That we are, always, faces in a crowd.

David Foster Wallace – Girl with Curious Hair

Anecdoche

Cover image for the Anecdoche word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Anechosis

Cover image for the Anechosis word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Covalent Bond

Cover image for the Covalent Bond word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Kinchy

Cover image for the Kinchy word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Amuse-Douche

Cover image for the Amuse-Douche word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Innity

a neatly made bed with diffused light glowing

Monachopsis

Cover image for the Monachopsis word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Mimeomia

a person wearing an animal onesie garment

Aftergloom

Cover image for the Aftergloom word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Siso

Cover image for the Siso word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Hailbound

Cover image for the Hailbound word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Unsharp Mask

a mirror with a reflection of a person

Eisce

Cover image for the Eisce word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Anaphasia

Cover image for the Anaphasia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Tillid

Cover image for the Tillid word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Ledsome

Cover image for the Ledsome word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Routwash

Cover image for the Routwash word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Anti-Aliasing

Cover image for the Anti-Aliasing word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Maugry

Cover image for the Maugry word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Hickering

Cover image for the Hickering word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Furosha

a storm raging in the sky over a building

Xeno

Cover image for the Xeno word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows