100,000,000,000,000 poems

When one with t'other straightaway agrees
His nasal ecstasy beats best Cologne
Replies like this the dumbstruck brain may tease
The thumb- and finger-prints of Al Capone
Old Galileo's Pisan offerings
The North Wind Bites into his architrave
He's gone to London how the echo rings
As sleeping-bags the silent landscape pave
Platonic Greece was not so talentless
In indian summers Englishmen drink grog
Socrates watched his hemlock effervesce
But I can understand you Brogher Gog
Where no one bothered how one warmed one's bum
A wise loaf always knows its humblest crumb


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.