100,000,000,000,000 poems

From playboy Chance the nymph no longer flees
When masons clutch the breath we held on loan
He bent right down and well what did he seize
The thumb- and finger-prints of Al Capone
And yet 'twas he the beggar Fate just flings
The North Wind Bites into his architrave
Proud death quite il-le-gi-ti-mate-ly stings
In purest cradels tha's how they behave
The peasants's skirts on rainy days she'd tress
A piercint wit would sprightliest horses flog
Socrates watched his hemlock effervesce
Whiskey will always wake an Irish bog
With marble souvenirs then fill a slum
Soliloquies predict great things old chum


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.