12 Cocoons Feature: Daniel Mateo
Daniel lived in the Sydney suburb of Rockdale during one of the most severe COVID lockdowns in Australia. He chose Rockdale Train Station and in particular the Swallow Cafe on Geeves Street just outside of the station as the location of his video poem. These were symbols for him of both COMFORT - in a good takeaway cuppa and FREEDOM - in a lifeline of public transport, during lockdown.
DANIEL MATEO’S 12 COCOONS POEM TRANSCRIPT
You witnessed the world come to a complete stop
This was the start of an uncertain learning filled with thoughts of mixed emotions and a new feeling of yearning
We didn’t know how to navigate this space
But we did
You did
It gave us
The chance to learn you
We reinvented what we thought was self love
Coming to the conclusion that
what was before wasn’t enough
But in our darkest times of solitude
You found you
Beyond the hard times and the ups and downs
We found new ways to navigate
Work
Schooling
Healing
We look back at the mountains we crumbled with the efforts of just being
We forgot what it felt like to be still
We forgot that to ignite a strong flame we need still winds
So let us begin
To allow us to take time as slow as we want
And feel every single being of our emotions feelings thoughts because to be human is to be you
And what I learnt during our toughest times is that even time will wait for you
