100,000,000,000,000 poems

Prose took the minstrel's verse without a squeeze
Licks round carved marble chops on snails full-blown
Replies like this the dumbstruck brain may tease
And loudly sang off-key without a tone
To one sweet hour of bliss my memory clings
Signalling gauchos very rarely shave
An icicle of frozen marrow pings
Victorious worms grind all into the grave
Platonic Greece was not so talentless
With gravity at gravity's great cog
Poor Yorick comes to bury not address
Whiskey will always wake an Irish bog
Do bank clerks rule their abacus by thumb
Fried grilled black pudding's still the world's best yum


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.