Poet in monastery needing year off (5)
I believe the answer is:
prior
'poet' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for prior that I've seen before include "More important" , "head of a religious community" , "Senior monk; earlier" , "head of a house of friars" , "English keeper" .)