This unique dramatic monologue is a pyschological reconstruction of the life of the world's most notorious black-and-white artist, whose work was tragically terminated by tuberculosis when he was only 26.

Closely based on biographical fact, at times using Beardsley's own words, the poem allows the artist to speak confessionally, tracing his obsessions with art, sex and, later, Catholicism. The reader witnesses his brushes with Oscar Wilde, John Lane and the turbulent story of The Yellow Book.