Chainsaw

by Jim Hanson / March 16th, 2025

Blood drips on
the floor

     falling from the
     wounds of the

body politic

slashed by

     the chainsaw of
     a monk gone mad

by AI mind virus.

Some kneel down
to wipe the floor

     clean with
     cotton dressing

     to absorb
     the suffering.

Others stay up
to mend

     the wounds
     with stitches

of long words

     about peace
     while sitting.

But the blood keeps
     dripping

as the saw keeps
     ripping,

all so busy

     wiping and mending
     talking and sitting

the blood never ending.

Jim Hanson is a sociologist and retired Senior Researcher at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. His poetry collections include Endless Journey: Poems in Search of Meaning published in 2022 by Spartan Press, Perspectives: Educational Poems on the Humanities and Sciences published in 2023 by Wipf and Stock, and Ruminations: Poems on Living and Dying published in 2023 by Cyberwit Press. A chapbook titled Anthropic Musings was published in 2019, and single poems have appeared in some thirty websites and printings. Read other articles by Jim.

This article was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2025 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.