100,000,000,000,000 poems

Prose took the minstrel's verse without a squeeze
The bull's horns ought to dry it like a bone
Old corned-beef's rusty armour spreads disease
'Ere meanings new to ancient tribes are thrown
And yet 'twas he the beggar Fate just flings
That metred rhyme alone can souls enslave
Such merchandise a melancholy brings
For burning bushes never fish forgave
Emboggled minds may puff and blow and guess
And starve the sniveling baby like a dog
Socrates watched his hemlock effervesce
But I can understand you Brogher Gog
Where no one bothered how one warmed one's bum
Fried grilled black pudding's still the world's best yum


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.