The Blessed Affliction

New & Selected Poems

Mark Reid

$34.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Puncher & Wattman
01 December 2025

Poetry; Poetry by individual poets

The Blessed Affliction is an apt title to describe thirty years of the work of Mark Reid. From the hospital poems (in the footsteps perhaps of Webb and Mackenzie) of Parochial to the divine disputations of later works such as The Address Book sequence, filtered through the ironies and ambivalences of poets such as Berryman, Thomas (R.S.) and Donne, Reid matches despair with wit, in pitching the insurmountable questions of the infinite against the plain fact of the ordinary. Neither comes out on top. We are blessed. We are afflicted. Holding our world together is the necessity, the hope, of poetry. This volume presents the pick of Reid's first five published collections, along with the new book-length title collection: The Blessed Affliction.

'Reid's poems are arresting because their insights are both tactful and revealing; their hesitations, or admissions of doubt, are central. Their questioning of agency is a strength. More than easy celebration or affirmation, they are a poet's genuinely prayerful searching and praising. They are spiritual permissions. If we notice, if we are alert, we may know. Mark Reid is the finest Minimalist poet in Australia.'

Philip Salom

'...beneath such simplicity, these poems conceal depths of philosophical and religious thought that are revealed only in repeated readings. Blindside is a work of effortlessly superior intelligence...'

Judges' Report, 2019 Kenneth Slessor Award

By: Mark Reid
Imprint: Puncher & Wattman
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 148mm, Spine: 12mm
Weight: 200g
ISBN: 9781923099784
ISBN 10: 1923099787
Pages: 267
Publication Date: 01 December 2025
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Mark Reid's second collection of poetry, Parochial, was winner of the 2000 West Australian Premier's Book Award for poetry. His third collection, A Difficult Faith, was shortlisted for the same award in 2006, while his fifth, Blindside, was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry In the NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2019. Variously employed in theatre, television, kitchens & aged- care, he worked a decade on the wards of a public hospital. Resident in Western Australia for twenty years, he now resides in the NSW Central Tablelands town of Oberon. This volume presents his sixth collection, The Blessed Affliction, along with a generous selection from its five predecessors.

PRIZES to win! PROMOTIONS

The Blessed Affliction

New & Selected Poems

Mark Reid

$34.95

Paperback

See Also

Contact Abbeys

Contact Galaxy

Contact Language

Contact Us

About ABBEY'S