Keta

a hand reaching through paper with a flower drawing

Keta

n.
a random image from your distant past that leaps back into your attention, that doesn’t mean much of anything but is somehow able to keep fighting against the current, swimming back and forth in your mind, still developing.

After a species of salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, which “run” upstream to spawn every year, leaping back to the place they were born; they’re not worth much commercially, but the ketas don’t know that. When we look back on our lives, it’s not just the moments that we remember, not the grand gestures and catered ceremonies, or the world we capture poised and smiling in photos. It’s the little things—the minutes—the cheap raw material of ordinary time. Pronounced “kay-tuh.”

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Heart Of Aces

a person covering their eyes with their hands

Thwit

close-up of a person with forehead wrinkled and holding their head

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

Mithenness

a person standing on the side of a road

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Aulasy

a blurry image of a house on the road

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Aftergloom

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

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Maugry

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

Hanker Sore

Cover image for the Hanker Sore word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Merrenness

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

Moledro

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

Ecstatic Shock

Cover image for the Ecstatic Shock word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows