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Dark Patterns

2 min readOct 23, 2026

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I wake up,
get off the bed
leave the mess behind
and start to write

about these weird patterns that exist
in people
their habits
the good ones and otherwise,

yet they fuck up their lives
one escape at a time

as perhaps a great father
is losing breath somewhere from the smoking

and a determined clerk
spends his bonus on cheap alcohol

because we humans never learn
and we spoil ourselves with temporary escapes
and keep losing sight
to these dark patterns
and bad habits

for innocence in this world can easily be traded off
with greed and evil

for some children too brandish guns
when the world collapses
and so it is, these days

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for now cities burn and countries collapse
in similar ways
guns on the streets
and slogans out loud

while we spectate with cigars stuck between our lips
and smoke trapped inside our lungs
with our conscience lost
and our bad habits stronger than ever

so we do the next best thing and blame the world
and not us
for these crimes that we see
and secretly commit
and foget about the meaning of life
and the purpose wrapped with it
as for now

this world is stuck in dark patterns
as it struggles
and we weep

so while you wipe your tears away
let me return to the mess that I’ve made

for there’s a gun at the counter
I almost remembered to hide.

Almost.

— Vishal

PS — I don’t own the rights to the below image.

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Image taken from Pinterest.

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Vishal Tripathi
Vishal Tripathi

Written by Vishal Tripathi

I'm a writer/engineer. I write poems, code, and everything in between. in the thought machine that is my mind, some thoughts spill. Find them here.