The Hundred Thousand Billion Poem

I’ve recently started hosting a book group called Shhhh The Secret Book Swap. As well as the swapping of books - wrapped up with only descriptions from the gifter to go by (hence the secret part in the name), I’ve been adding a few other book related elements to the evening. Nothing too onorious or requiring any homework for attendees and all designed for us to share of love and enjoyment of reading.

This month I shared the story of the Hundred Thousand Billion poem.

This is a work of interactive poetry created by Raymond Queneau and first published in 1961.

Queneau worked with mathematician François Le Lionnais to develop this innovative concept, blending literature with mathematical principles. The book consists of ten sonnets, each with fourteen lines, printed on separate strips. 

This design allows readers to mix and match lines from different sonnets, creating a vast array of unique poems, a Hundred Thousand Billion to be exact. After a quick google I can tell you that would take take approximately 190 million years to read.

As we didn’t quite have that time at our book swap I thought, in honour I’d share a poem I wrote that explores its unique structure and the creative possibilities it offers.

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The Book No One Can Finish

Have you ever heard of the book,

That no reader has ever finished?

Not because it’s dull or drags

But as it’s constantly replenished.

A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems it’s called

For that’s what lies within

This creation may confuse you though

Surely it ought not be this thin?

It’s creator, Raymond keh noo Queneau

wrote ten sonnets then brought some tricks

His pen laid down, his knife in hand

Each line was cut in strips

With lines connected but free to roam

Ten poems became much more

The reader’s hand became the pen

with each flip a new world to explore

With all those combinations

How the hours would pass you by

More years than are imaginable

As words and time would fly

Now here's a question for you dear reader,

As you play keh noo’s Queneau’s game for you

If each of us reads a brand new story 

Does that make us the poet too?

Read more posts from our Secret Book Swap events