Entanglements

13th December 2021: botheration, int. Expressing annoyance, frustration, or exasperation.

14th December 2021: slow drag, n. A piece of music in a slow blues rhythm; (also) this rhythm.

15th December 2021: Ballyhack, n. U.S. regional (chiefly New England). Hell.

16th December 2021: lachrymabund, adj. Weeping profusely; full of tears.

17th December 2021: fairwater, n.1 Esp. in Germany or in German-speaking contexts: a navigable channel, esp. in a river, or in or near a harbour or port.

18th December 2021: autokinesis, n. An optical illusion in which a small stationary object in a uniform background, esp. a light source in an otherwise dark field, appears to move.

19th December 2021: popskull, n. A powerful, harsh, or low quality (esp. home-made) alcoholic drink; inferior whisky.

An utter, utter botheration. The needles of annoyance played like out of tune piano notes, forming a slow drag inside his ear. A one way ticket down south to Ballyhack. And lo, behold the chorus of lachrymabund angels, whose tears pour into the fairwater upon which the boat ferries him down stream. Old Charon flickers in the light of the background flashing in autokineses – movement, stillness, combined, momentum – and the irritation in his head begins to trickle down, curlding in his stomach, like some popskull poison that disables him utterly.