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The acid tongue with gourmet's expertise
Since Elgin left his nostrils in the stone
He bent right down and well what did he seize
The thumb- and finger-prints of Al Capone
To one sweet hour of bliss my memory clings
Were pots graffiti'd over by a slave
A daring baron pockets precious Mings
Etruscan words which Greece and Rome engrave
It's no good rich men crying Heaven Bless
A bird-brain banquet melts bold Mistress Mog
The colonel's still escutcheoned in undress
Whiskey will always wake an Irish bog
Ventriloquists be blowed you strike me dumb
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.