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

Anaphasia

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

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Ludiosis

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

Burn Upon Reentry

Cover image for the Burn Upon Reentry word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Kuebiko

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

Xeno

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

Wytai

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

Amuse-Douche

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

Mimeomia

a person wearing an animal onesie garment

Hailbound

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

Adronitis

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

Merrenness

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

Thrapt

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

Justing

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

Flichtish

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

Future-Tense

a person looking at their reflection

Waldosia

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

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Fygophobia

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