100,000,000,000,000 poems

When one with t'other straightaway agrees
Since Elgin left his nostrils in the stone
Forms shadowy with indecision wheeze
And empty cages show life's bird has flown
O Parthenon you hold the charger's strings
With sombre thoughts they grimly line the nave
In salads all chew grubs before they've wings
The nicest kids for strickiest toffees crave
Staunch pilgrims longest journeys can't depress
A piercint wit would sprightliest horses flog
On wheels the tourist follows hos hostess
Their sculptors did our best our hulks the clog
Ventriloquists be blowed you strike me dumb
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.