Samples

Grand Duke
 Grand Duke Vasili Yuergen stood on the parapet of Castle Hurin, his burly silhouette stark against the pink pre-dawn sky. A gusty wind tugged at the Grand Duke’s long, straggling, raven-black hair while the battlements clung to the night darkness. The castle perched on the edge of a mountain pass and the Grand Duke gazed into the darkness cloaking the chasm below as the adjacent jagged peaks had their snow-edged rock sharply illuminated by the still unseen sun.
From the chasm came the faint sound of battle; the clang of sword on sword, the thud of shields doing their work, the occasional agonized scream. As the light slowly pushed the shadows into the most remote recesses the sounds diminished and finally halted. Still the depths were hidden in darkness. The Grand Duke stood as a statue, patiently waiting.
​

Goodbye 2020

Quarantine
 
Day 32 of quarantine
Of maybe thirty-nine
The all run together
I lost count, lost my tether
Rise every morning, work
Eat every meal with only a fork
Video call with the kids
Or was that only home vids?
Reality is just a hazy fog
Like walking a cat or a hog
Nightmarish default
Is an underground vault
With rain pouring down
An angry wet crown
With no end in sight
Hopeless barkeeper’s plight
Please don’t mention rebound
There creeps in a sound
Can it be? Sunny day?
On the street children play
Bring the hope a summer
More fun, less a bummer
When the COVID runs out
And we, too, can get out.
​
Curiosity
 
The oak rustled and sighed,
The bee zipped and buzzed
And the owl watched and nodded.
 Curiosity is a vital thing
Where it come from
Is a secret well-kept
But where it goes,
Where it takes you,
Is documented in a life.
It is a greedy master
It wants problems
Big and small, obvious and obtuse,
And an ever-expanding
Box of tools,
Self-created or acquired.
Delicate yet resilient,
It is a chimera and a rain drop,
A tiny rivulet and a mighty river,
All in one go.
Quashed with a single word but
Surviving a torrent of “didn’t work”.
It is a rare thing; a beautiful thing
To live a life of curiosity
It is a rarer thing still
To give a life of curiosity.
In this there is a story,
Perhaps your curiosity will find it.
The oak rustled and sighed,
The bee zipped and buzzed
And the owl watched and nodded.

Flash Fiction

The land lay waiting. Spring had come with all the chaos of seeds bursting forth into new plants and old plants stretching their roots. Summer had come with all the activity that the warmth and the light brings to the myriad living things. Then fall had come with the frenetic work of the harvest and the winding down and retreating to a lazy, drifting rest for the plants and animals that would overwinter. And now the land itself was ready for its long winter nap, happy to rest, at least for a season.
​
​Unpublished, by Greg Schroeder 

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Classic Literature?
(The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen)
no, but my Published Works
See! Cats can read!
But can they write? Anyway some of what I'm working on.
Projects.
Me (a bit younger than I am now)! contact me with comments, suggestions, helpful hints...