100,000,000,000,000 poems

When one with t'other straightaway agrees
Since Elgin left his nostrils in the stone
He bent right down and well what did he seize
'Ere meanings new to ancient tribes are thrown
To one sweet hour of bliss my memory clings
When flame a form to wrath ancestral gave
The learning linguist cameramaniac sings
In purest cradels tha's how they behave
The genealogist with field and fess
Shallots and sharks'fins face the smould'ring log
From cool Parnassus down to wild Loch Ness
Their sculptors did our best our hulks the clog
Do bank clerks rule their abacus by thumb
Fried grilled black pudding's still the world's best yum


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.