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
And empty cages show life's bird has flown
To one sweet hour of bliss my memory clings
Whose ocean still-born herrings madly brave
A daring baron pockets precious Mings
For burning bushes never fish forgave
Emboggled minds may puff and blow and guess
Or grinning like a pale-faced golliwog
While homeward thirsts to each quenched glass say yes
Their sculptors did our best our hulks the clog
Do bank clerks rule their abacus by thumb
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.