Repercussions of Drumming

Consider his knowledge of drum corps of the Civil War: small bands of men parlayed into battle marching toward the barrel of the enemy while thinking in scales and syncopation—grace under fire without applause for renditions of reverie; no medic to thread calfskins pierced in the crossfire. Nobody hands new infantrymen two sticks and a drum and yells, beat it, kid! No enemy has fallen as a result of good or bad drumming. It’s what makes marching bands a costumed homage to history, revered only during football Saturdays and Main Street parades, to which he sees no point in back-breaking marches, not when he can sit comfortably behind hard-working troops who crave the spotlight, keep time and remain obscure like Sid Catlett or Elvis Jones. Behind this fortress of a kit, he can see all that’s incoming, ever prepared to call it quits and pitch the sticks toward a seedy crowd.









Thad DeVassie’s prose poems and flash fiction have appeared in numerous literary journals including New York Quarterly, Poetry East, NANO Fiction and PANK. A lifelong Ohioan, he runs a brand messaging studio in Columbus and is co-founder of JOY VENTURE, a storytelling platform & podcast of entrepreneurial risk and reward.