Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Zysia

n.
the sense that you were born too early in history, all too aware of how crude and backward the present can be, feeling tired of having to sit through so much clunky exposition and slow-burning suspense, when all you want to do is skip ahead to find out what happens next.

A word tantalizingly close to being the last word of the dictionary, but not quite there. Pronounced “zee-zhah.”

Lap Year

several people racing bicycles uphill in a forest

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Solla, Solla, Solla

a hand reaching out for plant tendril

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Anchorage

a person's arm extended over river rapids

Affogatia

miscellaneous items on a table

Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock

Heart Of Aces

a person covering their eyes with their hands

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Keta

a hand reaching through paper with a flower drawing

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Mal De Coucou

a blurry image of several men

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

The Unsharp Mask

a mirror with a reflection of a person

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Ecsis

a hand holding a fossil

Leidenfreude

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

Suerza

a tunnel with a light emanating from the end

Mauerbauertraurigkeit

Mauerbauer-traurigkeit

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