“Body of Child Found”

—Headline in The National Reporter: The Second American Civil War

By Colorado Poet Robert Cooperman

Narration By Roger Netzer

 

“After James Wagner issued a terse statement

refusing to order Society for Progressive Change

to surrender to Guns for America, the body

of a small child was found in a waste area

between strongholds for the two factions.

 

“The corpse is believed to be that

of James Wagner, Jr., the kidnapped son

of the leader of the left wing organization,

and the latest, most innocent victim of the war

that has drawn the country into its conflagration.

 

Interviewed after the body was found,

Mr. Wagner had this to say:

 

“As a father, I’m devastated; as a freedom

fighter, I must be prepared to make sacrifices

of the most heart wrenching sort.  First, my wife

was killed last week; now, my son’s a martyr

in our fight against these Neo-Liberty Boys.

 

“The only liberty they ascribe to is their own:

to butcher whomever they please in the name

of a God, who, if He did exist and were dwelling

in the Heaven they believe they will rise to

by committing mass murder, would shudder

in disgust and fling them into the Hell they’d assign

to anyone who refuses to kneel to their vile credo.

 

“Far from losing hope at the losses we’ve incurred,

I believe we will reclaim our country from those

who’d damn everyone who disagrees with them.”