For Shimi

Pantoum 
     -for S.T. Shimi
July 11, 1971  December 2, 2020

How amazing is she
Queen of Devine Street
Her righteous love like
glitter dazzles on.

Our Queen of Devine Street
Miss Shimi, Shimarella, S.T.
Reflected in stage lights, her glitter
dazzles on unapologetically.

Miss Shimi, Shimarella, S.T.
sipping good gin in the beyond
dazzles on unapologetically
You get to choose, she wrote

beyond clearly, biting as good gin
We just wear these surly, shiny bonds
Assigned to us. I slip out of them
And your grasp

My layers shimmering and shaking.
See, she even broke the form
of this poem, grinning wide, sexy
as Prince, effortless as sunrise.

She was born to break the form.
Is the party still going? Her laugh
echoes effortless as sunrise,
dressing up, dressing down, calculated grace.
 
If her laugh echoes, the party is still going.
Black Orchid, ¡presente! Thanalakshmi Subramaniam ¡presente!
Dressing up, dressing down her body dances on
like a badass map, a fierce cocktail, a rare bloom.
 
Black Orchid, ¡presente! Thanalakshmi Subramaniam ¡presente!
Let her righteous love teach us the way onward
a badass map, a fierce cocktail, a rare bloom.
How amazing is she?