ambrosia

Elizabeth Li

you comb your fingers through my hair and i ionize and become electric / ghost across the knobs of my spine; feel how my back arches under your touch, how you coax ichor through my veins / dig your nails into the dips beneath my collarbone and unravel me like a tapestry / spill threads of my existence across your palm / you symphony, you synesthete’s miracle / the sound of your breaths ripples through the stillness of the air and melts like ambrosia on my tongue; your heartbeat brushes against my lips like fire / your voice is butterscotch in my mouth when you ask: “what were your men like?” and you must have sensed my grimace because you laugh (honey-filled mochi and roasted walnuts) and lean into my back, wrapping your arms around my neck / the wool of your sweater tickles my chin /“wanna see how i taste instead?” you purr and i smile and say, darling, i already know.

Elizabeth Li has been previously been published by the Aurora Journal as well as Cathartic Lit. She has also been selected to attend the 2021 Kenyon Young Writers’ Workshop and the Virginia Young Writers Workshop. Furthermore, she has published a chapbook titled “anatomy of wonderland” through Bottlecap Press, which was also a semifinalist in the 2022 Sundress Chapbook Contest.