100,000,000,000,000 poems

At five precisely out went La Marquise
When masons clutch the breath we held on loan
The understanding critic firstly sees
And loudly sang off-key without a tone
O Parthenon you hold the charger's strings
Signalling gauchos very rarely shave
The learning linguist cameramaniac sings
The nicest kids for strickiest toffees crave
Staunch pilgrims longest journeys can't depress
Or grinning like a pale-faced golliwog
On wheels the tourist follows hos hostess
Whiskey will always wake an Irish bog
Though bretzels take the dols from board-room drum
In cognac brandy is Bacardi rum?


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.