One excellent response to the pope's call is "100 Days of Dante," a web-accessible resource from Baylor University's Honors College Read more

"Michael I thought you were dead is an honest and searching account of what it feels like to confront one's mortality and find spiritual meaning in life's most difficult circumstances," says The Cuba Press publisher Mary McCallum.

"But there is light and lightness in Michael's observations and a nice turn of humour that you don't expect.

The black humour of the title poem is just a start.

At one point, for example, he describes putting on a pair of shorts and some fancy French aftershave to go and see the oncologist. It finishes: "I await the verdict. A scented man."

Fitzsimons says writing the poems helped him make sense of what was happening to him.

Writing poems is my way of facing danger. Words on a page, however they tumble out, are my prayer, (from "Markings".)

Speaking at the launch of the book, artist and writer Gregory O'Brien described Michael, I thought you were dead as "a love poem to the world and its inhabitants".

"It is hard to imagine a book more infused with living, with seasonal growth and rebirth, with the wairua and spirit of being alive.

In the middle of an encounter with death, we find ourselves at the very heart of life."

"This is a book of lessons, softly, wisely told. Michael, I thought you were dead is made up of a collection of poems followed by a section called "Markings", which is a journal-like sifting of experience.

Says Mary: "Mike writes of the world in front of him in his eagle's eyrie or on a bushwalk -intimate illuminated moments that suddenly take flight and give us a perspective as big as the world."

Michael Fitzsimons is a regular contributor to the Catholic media and his latest publishing project was Joy Cowley's Veil Over the Light.

His first book of poems, Now You Know, was recommended in Radio New Zealand's annual poetry highlights.

Michael I thought you were dead is available at all good independent bookstores, online from The Cuba Press and Pleroma.

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It has been published for the first time on Newsroom.

On returning from his visit, Ireland tried to write but he was too close to the experience.

With prompting from Passchendaele Society members Greg Hall and Dermot Ross, he got around to looking at his notes and finishing his work in time for centenary commemorations.

"I'm very pleased with it. I hope it puts down something of a New Zealander's feeling, reflecting the devastation of looking at the battlefield."

Ireland says it's only recently we've been able as a nation to talk about it - something we feel should never have happened.

"When I was a boy (Ireland is in his 80s) we used to beat the drums and wave the flags but it was something that was separate from us; there was no understanding.

"You can't get a sense of pride out of being told to feel proud. You get pride from the side issues - human endurance, fortitude, improvisation and mate-ship.

"All those sorts of things happen in war. Now those stories are being told in a different way, new generations have a different understanding of what went on."

Ireland was born is 1933 and grew up in Auckland. He is a poet, fiction writer and librettist.

He lived in England for 25 years, though he has consistently identified himself as a New Zealand poet.

He was awarded an OBE for services to literature and received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2004.

Read the poem on Newsroom

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On January 18, 1866, he composed his poem "The Habit of Perfection," which hailed the virtue of asceticism. Five days later, on January 23, he included poetry in a list of things he planned to give up for Lent.

And by July, against the wishes of his family, he had decided to leave his native Anglicanism for the Catholic Church. Read more

He has written a number of books, including the Wellington Book and the NZ Book, but this is his first book of poems.

The collection, called Now You Know, includes poems by Michael Fitzsimons and photographs by Philip Birch.

It will be launched at St Joseph's, Mt Victoria on Thursday, September 24, 6pm. All are welcome.

"This collection features a series of vibrant weather photographs taken by Philip who was a wonderful friend for more than 40 years," says Michael.

"After Philip was diagnosed with terminal cancer, we decided we should collaborate on a publication. I've been a writer most of my working life and he had a store of great weather photographs."

"We knew we were unlikely to get it published in time. Philip died last October so my goal was to complete the project over the next year."

Philip was a parishioner at St Joseph's, Mt Victoria for more than 20 years, and established the garden around the church.

"Philip's life of simplicity and service was an inspiration to many people," says Michael. "He was a landscape gardener, counselor and former priest who always strived to live the Gospel life."

Despite the sadness, Now You Know is a hope-filled book at heart, says Michael Fitzsimons.

"It has two parts - general poems that I guess you could say are broadly spiritual in nature, and a series of poems about Philip."

"The poems cover many topics from new life to death and a few epiphanies on the way through."

Copies of Now You Know are available from Unity Books, Wellington and by emailing mike@fitzbeck. co.nz

Now You Know will be launched at St Joseph's, Mt Victoria on Thursday, 24 September 6pm. All are welcome.

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