Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock

Midsummer

n.
the point in your mid-twenties when your youthfulness expires as a valid excuse, leaving you accountable for your own station in life, even if you’re still only reeling from your past or planning for the future— which somehow makes time itself feel more urgent than before, until even the springtime pollen floating in the air reminds you of the coming snow.

Borrowed from the traditional feast of the summer solstice, after which all the days become shorter.

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Aftersome

rows of opaque and clear marbles

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Slipfast

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

Nighthawk

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

Thrapt

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

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Los Vidados

Cover image for the Los Vidados word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Fitching

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

Fygophobia

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

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Ringlorn

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