100,000,000,000,000 poems

From playboy Chance the nymph no longer flees
When masons clutch the breath we held on loan
The understanding critic firstly sees
That suede ferments is not at all well known
The roundabout eats profits made on swings
Rejecting ermine to become a knave
A daring baron pockets precious Mings
Till firemen come with hose-piped tidal wave
Emboggled minds may puff and blow and guess
Or grinning like a pale-faced golliwog
The country lane just thrives on farmyard mess
One misses cricket hearth and croaking frog
Poor reader smile before your lips go numb
They're kings we're mammal-cousins hi ho hum


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.