Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Hem-Jawed

adj.
feeling trapped inside your own language, struggling to shake away the baggage weighing down certain words, unable to break out of its age-old structures and melodies, frustrated that the scattering of verbal pigments on its palette could never quite capture the colors in your head.

From hem, an attempt to clear the throat + jaw, coarse babble.

Proluctance

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

Lookaback

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

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Eftless

a person with hands pressed on a window

Zverism

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

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books