diff --git a/incorporealcms/config.py b/incorporealcms/config.py
index cb443d7..5ed4258 100644
--- a/incorporealcms/config.py
+++ b/incorporealcms/config.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class Config(object):
         },
     }
 
-    MARKDOWN_EXTENSIONS = ['extra', 'sane_lists', 'smarty', 'toc']
+    MARKDOWN_EXTENSIONS = ['extra', 'incorporealcms.mdx.figures', 'sane_lists', 'smarty', 'toc']
     MARKDOWN_EXTENSION_CONFIGS = {
         'extra': {
             'footnotes': {
diff --git a/incorporealcms/mdx/figures.py b/incorporealcms/mdx/figures.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8613a4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/incorporealcms/mdx/figures.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+"""Create generic figures with captions."""
+import re
+from xml.etree.ElementTree import SubElement
+
+import markdown
+
+
+class FigureExtension(markdown.Extension):
+    """Wrap the markdown prepcoressor."""
+
+    def extendMarkdown(self, md):
+        """Add FigureBlockProcessor to the Markdown instance."""
+        md.parser.blockprocessors.register(FigureBlockProcessor(md.parser), 'figure', 100)
+
+
+class FigureBlockProcessor(markdown.blockprocessors.BlockProcessor):
+    """Process figures."""
+
+    # |> thing to put in the figure
+    # |: optional caption for the figure
+    # optional whatever else, like maybe an attr_list
+    figure_regex = re.compile(r'^[ ]{0,3}\|>[ ]{0,3}(?P<content>[^\n]*)')
+    caption_regex = re.compile(r'^[ ]{0,3}\|:[ ]{0,3}(?P<caption>[^\n]*)')
+
+    def test(self, parent, block):
+        """Determine if we should process this block."""
+        lines = block.split('\n')
+        return bool(self.figure_regex.search(lines[0]))
+
+    def run(self, parent, blocks):
+        """Replace the top block with HTML."""
+        block = blocks.pop(0)
+        lines = block.split('\n')
+
+        # consume line and create a figure
+        figure_match = self.figure_regex.search(lines[0])
+        lines.pop(0)
+        content = figure_match.group('content')
+        figure = SubElement(parent, 'figure')
+        figure.text = content
+        if lines:
+            if caption_match := self.caption_regex.search(lines[0]):
+                # consume line and add the caption as a child of the figure
+                lines.pop(0)
+                caption = caption_match.group('caption')
+                figcaption = SubElement(figure, 'figcaption')
+                figcaption.text = caption
+        if lines:
+            # other lines are mysteries, might be attr_list, so re-append
+            # make sure there's a child to hang the rest (which is maybe an attr_list?) off of
+            # this is probably a bad hack
+            if not len(list(figure)):
+                SubElement(figure, 'span')
+            rest = '\n'.join(lines)
+            figure[-1].tail = f'\n{rest}'
+
+
+def makeExtension(*args, **kwargs):
+    """Provide the extension to the markdown extension loader."""
+    return FigureExtension(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/tests/functional_markdown_tests.py b/tests/functional_markdown_tests.py
index 2b7a65b..386730f 100644
--- a/tests/functional_markdown_tests.py
+++ b/tests/functional_markdown_tests.py
@@ -37,3 +37,16 @@ def test_invalid_graphviz_is_not_rendered():
     response = client.get('/test-invalid-graphviz')
     assert response.status_code == 500
     assert b'INTERNAL SERVER ERROR' in response.data
+
+
+def test_figures_are_rendered(client):
+    """Test that a page with my figure syntax renders as expected."""
+    response = client.get('/figures')
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert (b'<figure class="right"><img alt="fancy captioned logo" src="bss-square-no-bg.png" />'
+            b'<figcaption>this is my cool logo!</figcaption></figure>') in response.data
+    assert (b'<figure><img alt="vanilla captioned logo" src="bss-square-no-bg.png" />'
+            b'<figcaption>this is my cool logo without an attr!</figcaption>\n</figure>') in response.data
+    assert (b'<figure class="left"><img alt="fancy logo" src="bss-square-no-bg.png" />'
+            b'<span></span></figure>') in response.data
+    assert b'<figure><img alt="just a logo" src="bss-square-no-bg.png" /></figure>' in response.data
diff --git a/tests/instance/pages/figures.md b/tests/instance/pages/figures.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e38f732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/instance/pages/figures.md
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# test of figures
+
+|> ![fancy captioned logo](bss-square-no-bg.png)
+|: this is my cool logo!
+{: .right }
+
+|> ![vanilla captioned logo](bss-square-no-bg.png)
+|: this is my cool logo without an attr!
+
+|> ![fancy logo](bss-square-no-bg.png)
+{: .left }
+
+|> ![just a logo](bss-square-no-bg.png)