La Gaudière

La Gaudière

n.
a glint of goodness you notice in someone that you wouldn’t expect, which is often only detectable by sloshing them back and forth in your mind until everything dark and gray and common falls away, leaving something shining at the bottom of the pan—a rare element hidden deep in the bedrock, that must’ve been washed there by a storm somewhere upstream.

French la gaudière, from Latin gaudere, to find joy. Pronounced “lah gou-dee-yair.”

Zverism

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

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Falesia

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

Siso

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

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face