An Array of Vapour - Matthew Heasman's endorsement and New Hope

My debut Poetry collection "An Array of Vapour", published by TSL Publications, is now available for purchase here: https://tslbooks.uk/product/an-array-of-vapour-peter-lilly/

This blog post is about Matthew Heasman's endorsement of the book, and the work of New Hope. It was an honour to work under Matthew's leadership at New Hope, and I am very humbled by his kind words about me and this book. 

For those who don't know, New Hope is a local charity to Watford, just north-west of London, providing support, advice, food and shelter for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. They have a variety of different housing services ranging from emergency beds in the night-shelter, to medium term move-on accommodation, as well as drop-in services, a soup kitchen, and a support for those who have previously been homeless, to help them sustain their recovery. 

In my five years working for the charity I had four positions in three different projects, but all with the most vulnerable people. By far, the most challenging role I had was as the Outreach Supervisor. In this role, I led and coordinated the work to find, contact and offer support to those rough sleeping in Watford and the surrounding areas. I also ran a drop in support an advice centre where I would meet with people who needed support, listen to their stories and try to refer them into some sort of accommodation. In this role, every single person you meet is going through the biggest crisis of their lives, and suffering on so many different ways. In one draw in my office, I had a bunch of confiscated knives and weapons, and in another draw I had a couple of cans of beer, to keep the edge off if any of our service users started going through alcohol withdrawal. You can click on the image below to donate to New Hope to support thier important work.

As well as being difficult and heartbreaking, this work is also a huge privilege. Being the person that someone desperate and destitute opens up to about their situation, to look into that vulnerability teaches you so much. Being able to sit down with someone who thinks they are going to sleep rough that night, and finding them a bed with move-on prospects, is beyond words. I detail many of my experiences of working with the homeless in this article I wrote for Radix Magazine a few years ago.  The article also features some of the poems from this collection.

The poems in this book started as a way of processing the immense emotional and mental strain that this work puts one under. I had to write to stop myself from cracking. In the years since leaving New Hope, working on the book has become a way of honouring my colleagues the service users and those who find themselves with nothing, and of honouring those who passed away.