100,000,000,000,000 poems

The acid tongue with gourmet's expertise
When masons clutch the breath we held on loan
He bent right down and well what did he seize
And empty cages show life's bird has flown
The frisian Isles my friends are cherised things
Rejecting ermine to become a knave
He's gone to London how the echo rings
Etruscan words which Greece and Rome engrave
The wolf devours both sheep and shepherdess
With quill white-collared through his life will jog
Poor Yorick comes to bury not address
Southern baroque's seductive dialogue
And let you off from your opinions glum
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.