Heartworm

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

Heartworm

n.
a relationship or friendship that you can’t get out of your head, which you thought had faded long ago but is still somehow alive and unfinished, like an abandoned campsite whose smoldering embers still have the power to start a forest fire.

From heart + earworm, a catchy piece of music that compulsively loops inside your head.

Hemeisis

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

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Anaphasia

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

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide

Fitzcarraldo

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

Heart Of Aces

a person covering their eyes with their hands