100,000,000,000,000 poems

When one with t'other straightaway agrees
Licks round carved marble chops on snails full-blown
Replies like this the dumbstruck brain may tease
And loudly sang off-key without a tone
Oh how oh how he hates such pilferings
The North Wind Bites into his architrave
Proud death quite il-le-gi-ti-mate-ly stings
For burning bushes never fish forgave
The peasants's skirts on rainy days she'd tress
In indian summers Englishmen drink grog
From cool Parnassus down to wild Loch Ness
Lobsters for sale must be our apologue
The Taj Mahal has trinkets spice and gum
In cognac brandy is Bacardi rum?


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.