Povism

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

Povism

n.
the frustration of being stuck inside your own head, unable to see your face or read your body language in context, only ever guessing how you might be coming across—which makes you think of yourself as a detached observer squinting out at a lushly painted landscape, though to everyone else you seem woven right into the canvas.

From point of view + ism. Blessed are the slugs, whose eyes are held aloft on wriggling stalks, just tall enough to see their entire bodies in context. Pronounced “poh-viz-uhm.”

Eigenschauung

Eigen-schauung

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

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Hailbound

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

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Lyssamania

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