double the wages
By Jerome Berglund
and then halve their value
trompe-l’œil for posing
Trompe-l’œil is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. Popular for taking photographs to post on Instagram and other social media, these tricks of the eye and perception are reminiscent to the cosmetic, superficial appearances of progress, change and modest victories in terms of relative earnings, in the West and everywhere.
Our recent practice of hyperinflation following suspiciously closely upon the heels of distinctly minimal incremental graduated gains on wages which have stagnated grotesquely for decades, while productivity increased exponentially, as wealth continues to consolidate into smaller and smaller numbers of hands, the trend toward worse austerity, impossible situations for housing, affordable family creation, healthcare, are only exacerbated, insulted and injured by these distortions passing themselves for supposed reforms, amounting to deceptive sleight of hand magic trickeries.
Further reading: The science behind sales, deals, discounts and promotions
Author bio:
Jerome Berglund, recently nominated for the 2022 Touchstone awards, graduated from USC’s film program, worked in the entertainment industry before returning to the midwest where he has been employed as everything from dishwasher to paralegal, night watchman to assembler of heart valves. Jerome has exhibited many haiku, senryu and haiga online and in print, most recently in the Asahi Shimbun, Bear Creek Haiku, Bamboo Hut, Cold Moon Journal, Daily Haiga, Failed Haiku, Haiku Dialogue, Scarlet Dragonfly, Under the Basho, and the Zen Space. You can follow him on Twitter @BerglundJerome and find more of his poetry here: https://flowersunmedia.wixsite.com/jbphotography/post/haiku-senryu-and-haiga-publications
Check out more sciku from Jerome: ‘Environmental Charlie Browns’, ‘Vested Interests‘, ‘Civil Disobedience’ and ‘Exploitation in Micro and Macro’.