100,000,000,000,000 poems

The acid tongue with gourmet's expertise
Since Elgin left his nostrils in the stone
Old corned-beef's rusty armour spreads disease
And loudly sang off-key without a tone
O Parthenon you hold the charger's strings
Nought can the mouse's timid nibbling stave
A daring baron pockets precious Mings
Thou homestead hillside woodland rock and cave
The peasants's skirts on rainy days she'd tress
Or grinning like a pale-faced golliwog
Socrates watched his hemlock effervesce
Bard I adore your endless monologue
Where no one bothered how one warmed one's bum
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.