Sonnets 2000 is a collection of sonnets, classical in form, and contemporary in idiom. They display a sharp-edged humor that is deadly serious in intent. They show what it is to live and love, on the cusp of a new millennium.

Table of first lines:

  1.      Shall I compare you to an autumn mist? 
  2.      Shall I compare you to the winter’s snow? 
  3.      Shall I compare you to the blooms of spring? 
  4.      Shall I compare you to a summer’s day? 
  5.      In this imperfect world, where pain, disease 
  6.      Like a child dismantling a clock to find
  7.      I do not know where the urge to converse 
  8.      No man is a hero to his valet, 
  9.      For evil to triumph, it is enough 
10.     From all vacations, we expect respite 
11.     This damned disease, this passion for the dance! 
12.     The citadel of the intelligent 
13.     Anemones are delicate creatures 
14.     Breathless, I plunge headlong into those depths, 
15.     Can you not see in these fractured phrases 
16.     In these dim inarticulate scribblings 
17.     Long before we learn how short and forlorn 
18.     In each great leader’s life comes that moment 
19.    This house, created so passionately 
20.    With all the endless power that men enjoy 
21.     Let not beauty be confused with simple 
22.     Far from the abstract harmonies of art, 
23.     I once conceived myself to be in love 
24.     I will forego mouth-watering hors d’oeuvres 
25.     I’ve done my utmost to love ugliness 
26.     I have fallen for big tall bouncy blondes, 
27.     It’s not the belons or the haute cuisine 
28.     Let’s forego poems needing footnotes, 
29.     No, man is not the measure of all things. 
30.     An inclination towards lingerie 
31.     A man must live in Paris with panache. 
32.     We live our lives in rituals for our gods. 
33.     When we consider where the millennium 
34.     We had approached it with unbounded hope, 
35.     It is in part a satisfactory life. 
36.     For the length of a lazy afternoon 

     Stephen Denning was born in Sydney, Australia. He studied psychology and law at the University of Sydney (Australia) and law at the Oxford University (U.K.). He has held many positions in the World Bank where he is currently program director of knowledge management. He contributes to knowledge management and organizational learning publications and presents frequently at leading professional management conferences. He lives in Washington D.C. with his wife and daughter. 
     His book, The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations (Butterworth Heinemann: October 2000) shows how storytelling can serve as a powerful and formal tool for organizational change and knowledge management.  The book explains how organizations can use certain types of stories ("springboard" stories) to communicate envisioned strategies, structures, identities, goals, and values to employees, partners and even customers. Readers also will learn how their organizations can use stories to distill and share valuable insights and solutions.
     His novel, The Painter: A Novel of Pursuit, is a tongue-in-cheek love story, and comprises a first-person account of a young painter’s stay on the banks of the Potomac River, in the company of a sensuous young beauty. It tells of the young artist’s struggles to keep his mind sharply focused on his quest for artistic expression, while his attractive companion pursues a somewhat different objective.