The Uninterrupted
By Brittany Capozzi
I sit cross-legged with Bonnie Bones,
my study buddy for understanding movement.
For a moment I mistake a scratch on the crest of her pelvis for a broken bone
and find myself in conversation with my imaginary friend:
“You are not the bones in the body.
You have bones, but you are not the bones.
Easy does it, you didn’t break, you can’t break.”
The pale-yellow stains across her ribcage
invite me to inhale.
As the breath slides out through my nose, it chops itself up.
Allergy season
when grief gets stuck the most.
Sitting between Easter and Father’s Day stings the eyes.
Emotion interrupts my energy.
“You have grief moving through these spaces.
But you are not grief.
You are not these spaces.
Easy does it, you didn’t break, you can’t break,” I tell myself.
My right hand takes Bonnie’s.
The asymmetric bumps around metatarsals poke my skin,
making my shoulder jump.
Muscle spasticity and cerebral palsy, footnotes from
the three-decades-old blood clot.
Diagnoses and pain interrupt my curiosity.
This time, my tone lowers to a whisper
“Easy does it, you didn’t break, you can’t break.
You are not pain; you are not made of labels.
Easy does it, you didn’t break, you can’t break.”
I release hands and bow,
my hips tilt,
carrying the spine toward the floor like a folding “V.”
“Easy does it, you didn’t break, you can’t break.”
As my hips bring the spine back up, body trusting body,
shoulders sigh themselves down,
welcoming this phrase as a prayer—
“Easy does it, you didn’t break, you can’t break.”
Easy does it through these interruptions,
these internal sparklers that ignite and warm into symptoms.
Easy does it through these interruptions—
these excerpts from chapters in our body,
that wave their messages at us
by changing air flow, muscle contraction, and thought reels
under skeleton.
Easy does it, our stories didn’t break us, we can’t break.
We are
at our core
uninterrupted.
About the Author
Brittany is a yoga therapist (C-IAYT), writer, belly dancer, and the creator of Trust Fall Writing® based in Massachusetts. She received her English degree from Curry College. While there, she presented her undergraduate thesis “Therapeutic Writing: A Remedy for Understanding and Transforming Life Experiences” under advisor Dr. Allan G. Hunter, author of Therapeutic Uses of Writing.
Most recently, Brittany has written wellness articles. Her “Coin for Thought” series is forthcoming in Fanoos Magazine. Her poetry shows the truth, beauty, lessons, and curiosity of surviving a neonatal stroke and subsequent trauma. She believes in paying forward the empowerment that is cultivated on the page. As an advocate, she hopes others will find self-compassion through her words. Being vocal about her mental health and physical struggles has led Brittany toward leadership opportunities such as being invited to Take Back the Night’s annual event as a panelist and to share her stroke story on StrokeOnward’s Spotlight Member series.
She works with women who want to rediscover their uninterrupted selves through a sensory-based yoga therapy program by using handwriting and coin scarves as tools to cultivate a sense of confidence, safety, and wholeness without self-judgment. To say hello, visit her at https://www.understoryyogatherapy.com/ .