100,000,000,000,000 poems

Don Pedro from his shirt has washed the fleas
Licks round carved marble chops on snails full-blown
Forms shadowy with indecision wheeze
'Ere meanings new to ancient tribes are thrown
Old Galileo's Pisan offerings
Rejecting ermine to become a knave
The learning linguist cameramaniac sings
Thou homestead hillside woodland rock and cave
Poetic licence needs no strain or stress
In indian summers Englishmen drink grog
From cool Parnassus down to wild Loch Ness
No need to cart such treasures from the fog
And let you off from your opinions glum
They're kings we're mammal-cousins hi ho hum


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.