100,000,000,000,000 poems

At snuff no Cornish sailorman would sneeze
Licks round carved marble chops on snails full-blown
The understanding critic firstly sees
One gathers rosebuds or grows old alone
The frisian Isles my friends are cherised things
Nought can the mouse's timid nibbling stave
Th'outrageous Thames a troubled arrow slings
That every verbal shock aims to deprave
Platonic Greece was not so talentless
Shallots and sharks'fins face the smould'ring log
Watching manure and compost coalesce
Their sculptors did our best our hulks the clog
The Taj Mahal has trinkets spice and gum
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.