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.

Funkenzwangsvorstellung

Funkenzwang-svorstellung

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

Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object

Anecdoche

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

Etherness

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

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Nodrophobia

close-up of a stained shirt