Opinion

Unlike Louise’s bosom friend Catherine, 
I was no believer in any Lord or Savior. 
I should have thought that ’99 was but 
a number just like ’00 or ’01.
And yet the Office upgrade to 2000,
available for free from Microsoft,
unsettled me in a way I had once thought 
that only open casket funerals could.
The colorful explosives lived and died above 
the waters of the Saint Lawrence River, 
ignorant of human sensibilities regarding 
round numbers and arbitrary milestones.