100,000,000,000,000 poems

At five precisely out went La Marquise
Licks round carved marble chops on snails full-blown
The understanding critic firstly sees
With cherry-pips his cottage floor is sown
The roundabout eats profits made on swings
Were pots graffiti'd over by a slave
Th'outrageous Thames a troubled arrow slings
Victorious worms grind all into the grave
The genealogist with field and fess
Or grinning like a pale-faced golliwog
The colonel's still escutcheoned in undress
We'll suffocate before the epilogue
Do bank clerks rule their abacus by thumb
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.