COURTESY CALLS

— Jennifer Schneider

A courtesy phone

hangs on the wall

opposite our holding cell

and next to the guard’s desk.

Black lacquer. Tightly coiled cord.

—Glimpses of our reflections on the receiver's handle.

The phone rings. Often.

No one answers. Ever.

Chief alluded to calls

from the city morgue next door.

—That’s when we canceled plans for the heist.

Land of the Snakes — Rhaiah Spooner-Knight

Jen Schneider is an educator, attorney, and writer. Her work appears in a wide variety of literary and scholarly journals.

Rhaiah Spooner-Knight: A 2018 graduate of Monmouth University with a BFA, I was born and raised in New Zealand. After graduating high school, I was offered a Division I women's basketball scholarship at Utah Valley University. Though a graphic design major, I decided to transfer—for its athletics—to Monmouth University in New Jersey where I played my remaining year of basketball and also switched my major to Fine Arts.

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