100,000,000,000,000 poems

At snuff no Cornish sailorman would sneeze
His nasal ecstasy beats best Cologne
The showman gargles fire and sword with ease
Which neither time nor tide can long postpone
How it suprised us pale grey underlings
That metred rhyme alone can souls enslave
The learning linguist cameramaniac sings
As sleeping-bags the silent landscape pave
Staunch pilgrims longest journeys can't depress
With gravity at gravity's great cog
From cool Parnassus down to wild Loch Ness
Southern baroque's seductive dialogue
With marble souvenirs then fill a slum
A wise loaf always knows its humblest crumb


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.