Exonerate by Nicole Barth [6/5/15]

I am the breath in a whispering forest,
the chill of midnight air,
the expanse of an open field.

I dance with each of my footsteps.
I am alive within my blistered feet;
present in these bones.

Again,
and again,
my constant heart.

I find the hallowed touch.

Onward by Nicole Barth [6/5/15]

A pattern: I Find truth.
I speak; I thrive; I grow.

I know boundless exhilaration
coursing through my fingertips;
streaming through my veins.

Exhale toxins.
Exhale hate.

Inhale
the possibilities
of my fate.

I speak; I thrive; I grow.

Tracing Constellations by Nicole Barth [1/30/14]

You followed the cosmos of my skin,
as your index finger traced a circle around
the beauty mark on my left clavicle.

Here I am,
I thought, as you paused mid-orbit.

I will always be the topographical map of chapped lips,
the number of ribs you wrapped your arms around,
and the constellations beneath your touch.

How To Feel by Nicole Barth

Baby, I can teach you how to feel,

take you away from inverted city lights.

Remind you of what’s real.

Come on over, if you’d be so kind. Escape from this ordeal.

Tangled, naked with your thoughts at night.

Baby, I can teach you how to feel.

Nestle into my arms and learn how to heal.

Use my breaths as your metronome. You’ll be all right. 

I can remind you of what’s real.

When normalcy and piece of mind feels surreal,

I’ll hold you long past midnight.

Baby, I can teach you how to feel.

When your life loses its general appeal,

allow our palms to reunite;

remind you of what’s real.

Mutual admiration makes our lives ideal,

I’ll keep your demons out of sight.

Baby I can teach you how to feel,

Remind you of what’s real.

Ashcroft by Nicole Barth [8/25/13]

I felt the unexpected crispness of Colorado air seep
into my pores and spread
across my lungs.

Gasping like a newborn
thrown into open country, a scintillating kaleidoscope
illuminated the sky above me.

I breathed in souls,
thriving between the slats of a long forgotten cabin.
The rotting wood held  truths I will never know.

Memories immortalized in rusted nails.

Whisper by Nicole Barth [7/22/13]

I believe in love notes,

in the transparency of shuddering ink
across featherweight paper;

carefully and fearfully construed in a rainstorm

of  touch and light.

Saudade by Nicole Barth [6/17/13]

Your hands;

the way they make and move
and illustrate the words that sear my lungs.

Too encumbered and hungry to voice them myself. 

Your kisses like dew on the morning grass.

Our laughter: sudden like a summer storm. 

If I could,

I'd tell you home is your lips pressed against my neck.

Your sonorous breaths, my metronome for the coming day.