I think, sometimes,
of that day in 1947
when Corporal Pepper got promoted
and was deeded responsibility
for training the boys
to march and blow
and write to Miss Lonelyhearts
and perform in public.

I think about how he found his recruits
young men to do his bidding
like reading scores and playing them
for scores of years to come.
I wonder what inspired the man
and how inspired the men who obeyed him became
enacting his psychedelic vision for so long
and so well.

I think about them
and him
and those that worshipped
the band
even after all these years,
acolytes of a style
not from twenty years ago today
but much further back.

I consider the Sergeant’s Band sometimes
going down a long and winding road
of reminiscence
before I come together
let it be
and imagine other things.