100,000,000,000,000 poems

From playboy Chance the nymph no longer flees
His nasal ecstasy beats best Cologne
The Turks said just take anything you please
That suede ferments is not at all well known
And yet 'twas he the beggar Fate just flings
Nought can the mouse's timid nibbling stave
An icicle of frozen marrow pings
To break a rule Britannia's might might waive
Platonic Greece was not so talentless
With quill white-collared through his life will jog
Socrates watched his hemlock effervesce
But I can understand you Brogher Gog
The Taj Mahal has trinkets spice and gum
For Europe's glory while Fate's harpies strum


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.