The ten sonnets

These are the ten sonnets Queneau had printed on card and cut into fourteen strips in 1961. Every poem this site assembles takes each of its fourteen lines from one of them.

1. I King Carlos turns his coat for better fees
2. II The Parthenon horse looks nervous on the frieze
3. III The Breton tar lights up his duty-frees
4. IV At five o'clock he rests in his marquise
5. V The gorgeous youth helps Hestia's heart unfreeze
6. VI He's well inclined to capture his valise
7. VII When each of you with all his heart agrees
8. VIII So now the bard spurns iambs and trochees
9. IX The conjuror eats watches pens or keys
10. X One's left with only sorrow and disease