Protasis Tryptic
Protasis
Acetone is not acetate. I am acetone and acetate.
If wearing a binder, benzine reaction
Dog in pink harness. Earlywood in pink harness.
Age rings in pink harness. The hair strands are teeth.
If at room temperature my prints become miscible
If acetone and acetate, I produce solvent. I produce snail a matted snail a miscible.
If wood curls then wooden head
If curls of wood then soft wood
A slicker brush or a carding brush
If matted I am alignment. I am polished. I am felt.
Not to detangle, to matt the wool.
Then hair under the couch under the binder under the earlywood
If buzzcut then detangling comb, pet comb. Then hair impermeable.
Protasis
If humidity then the body does not shed
I repair soft I repair beams and shave wood
I am silicate. I am acetate salts. I am derivative. I remove protons.
If needlepoint then needlepoint through the weave
My nose is fixed object if my hands are fixed object if my body is good solvent.
If natural alignment the containment of alignment. If I am worked on
If the glass is chandeliers if the glass is storm glass if impact then fracture
If roving is earlywood. If the history of weather is variable. The age rings are the roving
If dew point then sheets of foot
If shedding if shearing if puncture if clean if christian clean if
Protasis
I am loose fibers. I am teeth, carding brushes pulling, grabbing at roving
If my body is thread then that body travels threaded then the body never leaves a threading.
If silicate am I salts and protons
Am I corporeality but not heaven
Or if no corporeality, no mycelium. If I am buried then mycelium. If gender—
does or does it not shed silicate
Separating roving, alignment
If through the weave then not a hole. If body then puncture.
If I press my nails. If I buy corporeality. If.
Lines and fingers that touch everything, everything
I—in propulsion from the hundred cilium hairs
in torsade on a wrist bone.
Madelyn Parker‘s (They/She) poems have been published in a few print and online publications, including Pedestal Magazine, Barren Magazine, and Red Earth Review. They will receive their MFA in creative writing at New Mexico State University in 2026. She is the current the Managing Editor for Puerto del Sol and recently received the 2025 Academy of American Poets’ Ruth Scott Poetry Award.