100,000,000,000,000 poems

At snuff no Cornish sailorman would sneeze
When masons clutch the breath we held on loan
The understanding critic firstly sees
Which neither time nor tide can long postpone
O Parthenon you hold the charger's strings
Nought can the mouse's timid nibbling stave
Such merchandise a melancholy brings
Victorious worms grind all into the grave
It's no good rich men crying Heaven Bless
With quill white-collared through his life will jog
To prove mamma an adult with a tress
But I can understand you Brogher Gog
And let you off from your opinions glum
And lessors' dates have all too short a sum


Raymond Queneau

Translation to English by Stanley Chapman
found in "Oulipo Compendium"
Atlas 1998, ISBN 0-947757-96-1

Idea and implementation by Magnus Bodin 1997
Produced in the wonderful country of Sweden.