Saturday, January 3, 2015

FLASH 55 PLUS

Galen Haynes
Mr Knowitall

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Galen Haynes, a.k.a. G-Man, on 9 December 2014. The Flash Fiction 55 is his meme and became an established weekly poetry event in the blogosphere calendar. He maintained its popularity over the years, despite the abundance of poetry prompts available at any given time. This, I believe, was directly due to his welcoming and warm-hearted nature, which continued to inspire his guests to participate. When he decided to retire from active blogging, he chose to give the meme to The Imaginary Garden, and we will continue to offer it on the first weekend of each month in his memory.


PLUS
Since it is a new year, I will be adding a new element to the prompt. Each month there will be something extra, an option to consider in your creative process. The one thing that will remain the same is the word count: 55 words no more, no less. Whether you choose to include the added extra is entirely up to you – this challenge remains essentially open in terms of subject and form. The "fiction" element is also optional. You will note that our Flash 55 logo now appears as a button on the right sidebar. Please feel free to copy the html script and include it with your post. It provides a link back to The Imaginary Garden Home Page.


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Free Wallpaper

"Man, You Gotta Go"


During the 50s in America,  a sub-culture emerged, depicting bikers as heroes who had cast off the shackles of a society they could not come to terms with. In fact the motorcycle and rider became symbolic of a rebellion against a system that the young rejected. This was manifest in the popular slogan, quoted above, which expressed an inexplicable urge to be in motion for motion’s sake, rather than for some articulate reason – such as a destination. Thom Gunn used it as the subtitle of his poem, On The Move. (Source)

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Kerry--what a sweet post. Thanks. Galen's death is still shocking and, of course, sad. The ongoing prompt is terrific. K.

hedgewitch said...

Excellent way to carry it on, Kerry. Thanks for the addition to the prompt, which gave me some added focus

brudberg said...

Excellent.. yes some addition made this easier... and a great tribute to Galen...

Wanda Psycho said...

I express grief on behalf of all the members of Team Netherworld. We loved the G-Man. I don't think he's resting in peace, though, I think he's looking to find the fun! He was the type that brought good into the world. Much love!

Kay L. Davies said...

It looks like I'm making a habit of posting to Real Toads again. Would that I could say it's true, but I can only say "we'll see"...meanwhile, I found myself writing a little bit of something inspired by your prompt today, Kerry. Thanks. Anything that gets me writing has to be a good thing.
To those looking for me to be funny today, I can only say "Keep coming back."
Hugs,
K

Unknown said...

May he be with the all maker as a herald of wonderful poetic stories.

Susie Clevenger said...

A great tribute and the addition definitely helped me.

Anonymous said...

couldn't not find the time for Galen. hope he's having a kick-ass weekend, and you, too. thanks for the inspiration, Kerry ~

Gemma Wiseman said...

A wonderful beginning to the New Year. Too much work stifled the creative spirit over the last few months, but hoping to revive it again. And the mention of the inspiring Galen pushed the right button for me. I had to write.

Grace said...

A lovely tribute to Galen Kerry ~

I like the plus to the 55 challenge ~ Happy Sunday and New Year to all of you ~

Lux G. said...

That's a sad ending of the year. A significant person in your life passing. Sweet of you to dedicate a post for him.

Hope you have a better year this 2015.

Fireblossom said...

I love the way you framed this, Kerry, remembering G Man and adding the special twist!

Yvonne Osborne said...

I just saw this post and most certainly will be back to participate. Thanks.

Archer's Bones said...

This was just the prompt I needed. Thanks!

my heart's love songs said...

i'm so sorry about Galen. he was, indeed, a warm-hearted person. the G-Man always brought a smile to my face. as grapeling said "hope he's having a kick-ass weekend, and you, too." lovely tribute, Kerry!

wishing everyone much love, good health and laughter in the coming year.

Timoteo said...

whoops, I understand open link is on Tuesday now. So just ignore me for today, and I'll link up again tomorrow.

Margaret said...

His face, his name, his memory will always make me smile - he is certainly missed. Playing a bit late and will be around off and on to catch up on all my visiting… it's still such a busy time for me - my two oldest are not yet back in college - they will be in a few days. :)

Yvonne Osborne said...

Thank you, poets of the garden. I'm back as promised. I couldn't not write one more for the G-Man.