Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Starlorn

n.
a sense of loneliness looking up at the night sky, feeling like a castaway marooned in the middle of the ocean, whose currents are steadily carrying off all other castaways—entire worlds and stars whose only remnant is a scrap of light they flung overboard centuries ago, a message in a bottle that’s only just now washing up on our shores.

From star, a luminous dot in the cloudless sky + -lorn, sorely missing. Pronounced “stahr-lawrn.”

Manusia

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

Vulture Shock

Cover image for the Vulture Shock word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Elsing

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

Vaucasy

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

Rivener

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

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table