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.

Nullness

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

Mogging Folly

a person sitting on a bench

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car

Ioia

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

Catoptric Tristesse

Cover image for the Catoptric Tristesse word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Thrapt

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