All posts by Jack Lyndon Thomas

Jack has published an illustrated book of poetry, Whirling Fire (1997), and memoir, Coyote Jack: Drawing Meaning from Life and Vietnam (2006), based upon his Vietnam experiences, which included earning The Bronze Star Medal for Heroism in Ground Combat, The Bronze Star Medal (First Oak Leaf Cluster) for Meritorious Achievement in Ground Operations Against Hostile Forces, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, while serving as an infantry officer/advisor to South Vietnamese militia. In October 1996 paid a return visit to operating area. He has ePublished his first novel, The Monsoon Killed the Tiger, a suspense/thriller , and is nearing completion on the first draft of Border Slot, in the same genre. In September 2013 Jack ePublished Lights on the Water/Depressions in the Sand: A Motorcycling Odyssey about his 105-day, 18,000-mile motorcycle journey and also ePublished Training Runs: The Regenerative Power of Motorcycling Back Roads, a collection of fifteen motorcycling journals that focus on learning to listen to his heart and soul. He has been published in motorcycle magazines such as Rider and BMWON. His motorcycling journeys have covered approximately 120,000 miles in over 30 years of riding. Additionally, the Houston Tribune published in its January 2001 issue essay about miscreant youths in ’50s suburban Houston, Texas, and in the fall of 2001, a prose poem and a short fiction piece appeared in Suddenly IV, an anthology of Texas writers. Jack also has been interviewed on both radio and television and has appeared as a paid performer reading selections from Whirling Fire. He has exhibited photography in juried art shows in Round Top and Salado, Texas, and was the July 1999 featured photographer/artist at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Houston. Jack is divorced, a retired CPA, and has two grown daughters and two grandchildren.

OLD SOLDIERS

Perhaps the poem below will resonate with some of you. It’s not in any collection. First, the story: I met Paul Wunsch in a writing class taught by Chris Rogers at Rice University over two decades ago. Paul had been in Special Forces and served a combat tour just east of the Cambodian … Continue Reading ››

Organ/Tissue Donors

Eight years ago, I was diagnosed with Corneal Fuchs Dystrophy, an eye disease that over time destroys the cornea. At present, the only cure is a corneal transplant in which the damaged tissue (either partial layer(s) or the whole cornea) is replaced. Without surgery, legal blindness will occur.

The estimated … Continue Reading ››

Abandonment and denial

American Dirt, a novel by Jeanine Cummings (2019), puts a human face and gives voice to migrants trying to work their way into the United States, just as Woody Guthrie’s song, “Deportee” (1948), adds voice to migrants seeking a better life in the United States, just as Risking Death to Find … Continue Reading ››

Reflections from a year on the ground in south vietnam

A day was a week. A week was a month. A month was a year. It took twelve years before the vague nuances from that year began to crystallize enough in order for me to begin to heal. A poem from Whirling … Continue Reading ››