100,000,000,000,000 poems

The acid tongue with gourmet's expertise
When masons clutch the breath we held on loan
The understanding critic firstly sees
That suede ferments is not at all well known
O Parthenon you hold the charger's strings
The North Wind Bites into his architrave
The fertile mother changelings drops like kings
The nicest kids for strickiest toffees crave
Emboggled minds may puff and blow and guess
In indian summers Englishmen drink grog
The country lane just thrives on farmyard mess
No need to cart such treasures from the fog
With marble souvenirs then fill a slum
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.