F. John Sharp

Gong is harder than it looks

when you are asked to
strike just once
a thirty six inch disc of
brass with a twelve ounce beater,
in a passage that is quieter than
a whisper, knowing
too hard is obnoxious,
too gentle is dead air, and
the director has, in the past,
singled you out for your failures.

F. John Sharp tried several times to make a one poem sentence until  he read the guidelines more carefully.