Three days after I de-planed at SeaTac and rode home to peel off sticky, faded desert camo for the last time, I was dispatched by my exotically sexy wife to attend to her mother in the mental ward. In Texas. With barely a hug and certainly no kisses under our belts, it seemed early in … [more]
When I used to jog
21-June-2010 by 2 Comments
The last time I remember was along mud-sand walls, buff, sizzling tink-tink-tink not too fast, they can’t shoot for sour batshit, I ran, bowing under the weight boots tight, mags full hands sweated onto parkerized dust “C’mon, Joey!” and he laughed that way like a kid, immortally cheerful, fantasy blue-eyed love doll to the Kurds … [more]
Coat of Many Colors
29-May-2010 by 1 Comment
I had this garment, see: a coat of many colors. A Levis jacket, Chinese-made with American fade, it had almost every unit patch I’ve ever worn sewn onto the back. Peacetime insignia were in full color: Second Infantry Division, my first assignment in Korea; III Corps where I worked personnel security for the corps artillery, … [more]
No buddy’s puppy
22-May-2010 by 10 Comments
They’re some of the biggest dogs in the world. Pretty Wife has wanted one for 20 years, but it’s never been the right time. It’s still not the right time, but what could it hurt to look? The Craigslist picture was unprepossessing — a sad puppy with a blotchy gray coat stood staring dull-eyed at … [more]
Good Save
21-May-2010 by 6 Comments
With the rain slowed to a drizzle, we sat around a guttering fire, working cuss words into the conversation for practice. Intent on winning this little competition, I was the last to notice that the other guys had shut up. And looked up. “Can I help you, sir?,” said the kid across the fire. That … [more]
Hanging in there
17-May-2010 by 6 Comments
Hi, all. Quick link is all I have a moment for just now. This was a little observation in the Seattle P-I, our local, now more than virtually virtual news organ. http://blog.seattlepi.com/jacklewis/archives/200857.asp Middle age is a pain in the butt. This is not a figure of speech. Roll over wrong, sit up sideways just once, … [more]
Hallmark moment
4-May-2010 by 4 Comments
So NSTIW (any military vet knows this acronym), standing in line at the Walgreens up at the corner in North City. It’s walking distance from our shotgun shack — not a “shotgun shack” in the N’Orleans sense that you could fire a shotgun from one end to the other, but in the Pacific NW sense … [more]
Weathering
26-April-2010 by 4 Comments
I’m no longer taken in by sunshine, warmth, clarity. When I woke up this morning and walked Smalldaughter to the bus stop, I wasn’t fooled by the blue-skied view that seemed to stretch from the middle of my muddled morning mind all the way to the white-crested mountain range adorning the peninsula across the Big … [more]
"Jack Lewis takes the overall literary crown with his new book...there’s a lot more to Lewis’s work than what it feels like to ride motorcycles.” — Ultimate Motorcycling
"Insightful and from the heart ... a driven and much recommended look into the mind and conflict of the next generation of war veterans. " — Midwest Book Review (Reviewer's Choice)