His last name is GOSTISHA

The boy from Santa Clara
smoking a red pipe
held his young nose high in the air
opening a military door
yet found no answer there.
simply the Stars and Stripes on the floor
neat columns of black and white
glorifying war
but that didn't make it right.
Some distance from Saigon
another helicopter pad
armed men with survival minds
but that didn't make them bad.
And man he loved his tobacco
sucking an Italian stem
shot me through with his questioning
"was it US or was it THEM"?
The boy from California
on a beach near Malibu
still remembers the crying girl
who stumbled without a shoe
and the child without her skin
and the boy missing his head
down by the water buffalo's blood
and all three were dead.
We went camping at Big Sur
walking the tide line without socks
he cried on the drive there
and when we rested on the rocks.