100,000,000,000,000 poems

The marble tomb gapes wide with jangling keys
When masons clutch the breath we held on loan
Replies like this the dumbstruck brain may tease
The thumb- and finger-prints of Al Capone
They both are right not untamed mutterings
With sombre thoughts they grimly line the nave
Such merchandise a melancholy brings
As sleeping-bags the silent landscape pave
Emboggled minds may puff and blow and guess
What things we did we went the whole darned hog
From cool Parnassus down to wild Loch Ness
With breaking voice across the Alps they slog
And let you off from your opinions glum
For Europe's glory while Fate's harpies strum


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.