Hate to love

Hate to Love is a collection of poems about intimacy, longing, desire, rupture, and the quiet aftermath of loving deeply in a fractured world. Written across several years, these poems trace the emotional arc of falling in love, sabotaging it, mourning it, and slowly learning how to survive without it.

Moving between tenderness and self-awareness, eroticism, grief, hope, and emotional distance, the collection explores modern love through the lens of trauma, insecurity, attachment, and timing. These poems do not idealise romance; instead, they sit honestly with its contradictions - wanting closeness while fearing it, craving love while doubting one's capacity to sustain it.

Hate to Love is not a promise of happily-ever-after, but a record of what love feels like when it is shaped by history, fear, and unmet needs. It is for those who love deeply, leave reluctantly, and carry the imprint of love long after it is gone.

Contents

If/Teach me 13
Must be nice 15
Unlovable 17
Forbidden luv 19
Intimacy 21
Sexy things 23
Is this love 25
Hopelessly hopeful in love 27
There is no room for love in crisis 29
The break up 31
Playing house 33
Wifey 35
Wifey 2 36
I miss us 38
A heart doesn't breakeven 40
Millennial love 42
Melons 44
The stages of grief 46
Love hurts 48
Love and ne-yo songs 50
Heartbreak anniversary 52
Toxic traits 54
That's how warriors love 56
Another poem about heartbreak 58