100,000,000,000,000 poems

At snuff no Cornish sailorman would sneeze
Licks round carved marble chops on snails full-blown
Replies like this the dumbstruck brain may tease
With cherry-pips his cottage floor is sown
It's one of many horrid happenings
The North Wind Bites into his architrave
Proud death quite il-le-gi-ti-mate-ly stings
In purest cradels tha's how they behave
Poetic licence needs no strain or stress
One tongue will do to keep the verse agog
While homeward thirsts to each quenched glass say yes
No need to cart such treasures from the fog
Do bank clerks rule their abacus by thumb
The best of all things to an end must come


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.