On Monday, the first draft of this listicle began as an inspirational ode to love. (For new readers, most every week I try to synthesize the best of the web into a themed listicle of links, accompanied by an object in my shop that relates.)

But my valentine is away. He travels frequently for work and I struggle to find an equilibrium when he is gone. Proof: it's Wednesday, this listicle is late, and it is no longer an ode to love. It is a tribute to the flipside of love, which isn't hate. It's confusion, loneliness, frustration. 

The Staffordshire ceramic figurine, newly listed in the shop, doesn't really fit this post, does it. But as I said, I'm off my game. So let's assume this lovely couple is my valentine and me. We do both have black hair and we look good in white. We like black shoes. We could easily sit astride a white steed without pulling off each other's hats in a panic. 

Anyway, here are some things from around the internet for anyone not feeling the Valentine vibe:

• As if dating wasn't already a hot mess without the added complexity of texting.

• This card says it all.

• A well-written essay that prompts the question: which is worse, this woman's angst about being 'ghosted', or the brutal comments that follow?

• Another well-written essay about online infidelity. Again, read the comments that follow for some very interesting perspectives.

• From Vice, a bunch of their male writers talk honestly about break-ups that felt like a bat to the kneecaps.

• One of my favorite authors wrote this piece about her experience as a widow who dips her toe in Match.com waters. It appeared in the New York Times column, Modern Love.

• No matter how dark the romantic horizon, there's always Stephen.

• A two-minute film about a man too good to be true.

Photo by Renn Kuhnen.