100,000,000,000,000 poems

The marble tomb gapes wide with jangling keys
Since Elgin left his nostrils in the stone
The Turks said just take anything you please
And empty cages show life's bird has flown
They both are right not untamed mutterings
Were pots graffiti'd over by a slave
He's gone to London how the echo rings
In purest cradels tha's how they behave
The fasting fakir doesn't smell the less
Shallots and sharks'fins face the smould'ring log
The colonel's still escutcheoned in undress
But I can understand you Brogher Gog
Though bretzels take the dols from board-room drum
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.