Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

Keir

n.
an ill-fated attempt to reenact a beloved memory years later, returning to a place that once felt like home, only to find it now feels uncannily off, like walking through a wax museum of your own childhood.

Dutch kier, fissure or narrow opening, as in the midpoint of an hourglass. Pronounced “keer.”

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Aftersome

rows of opaque and clear marbles

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Aesthosis

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

Ellipsism

a hand clawing at a wall

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Altschmerz

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

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Vulture Shock

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

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car