poetry 2017 / 078

Today, I challenge you to write a poem of ekphrasis — that is, a poem inspired by a work of art. But I’d also like to challenge you to base your poem on a very particular kind of art – the marginalia of medieval manuscripts.

Manuscript of a Young Monk Buried Outside the Abbey Walls

Friar Donal is a fool

to think two hours' illumination

is a vengeful punishment

when I can light all the candles

and draw whatever I like

Let's see how he likes it

with an illustrated psalter.

His eyesight is so bad

he'll think I've drawn jousting snails

and miss the phallus topped by testes

with the faces of the elders.

Bugger them all, for I'm out of madder

and the box of gold leaf is unlocked.