100,000,000,000,000 poems

At snuff no Cornish sailorman would sneeze
That horders of crooks felt they'd more right to own
Replies like this the dumbstruck brain may tease
The thumb- and finger-prints of Al Capone
And yet 'twas he the beggar Fate just flings
Signalling gauchos very rarely shave
An icicle of frozen marrow pings
Etruscan words which Greece and Rome engrave
Emboggled minds may puff and blow and guess
With quill white-collared through his life will jog
Socrates watched his hemlock effervesce
Lobsters for sale must be our apologue
Where no one bothered how one warmed one's bum
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.