For Heba

It used to be lavender was tint of spiritual color,

And poets wrote algorithms to versify love,

Gaza's poet Abu Nada, killed under bombardment,

        was deemed collateral fodder,

It used to be lavender was tint of spiritual color;

Now--nom de guerre--for AI killing machine,

        its swift lethality allures

Beautiful poet Heba Abu Nada reimagines

        nascent gardens from above,

It used to be lavender was tint of spiritual color,

And poets wrote algorithms to versify love

Laura Stickney 2024

Notes:

"Lavender" is the name of IDF 

Artificial Intelligence tracking machine

Heba Abu Nada was Palestinian poet

killed in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis,

Southern Gaza, on October 20, 2023

nom de guerre--literally "name of war," 

referring to pseudonym used in war.

nascent-- means just coming into existence

This poem, "For Heba" is written in triolet

format, a French form invented by medieval

poets in the 13th century

photo of Heba Abu Nada, Literary Hub