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.

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

Ioia

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

Ecsis

a hand holding a fossil

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide

Future-Tense

a person looking at their reflection

Proluctance

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

Jouska

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

Altschmerz

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

Semaphorism

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

Aimonomia

close-up of a plant with lights glowing in background

Hickering

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

Watashiato

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