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Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here. 

Five Minutes One hundred words

Mar 20
Mar 20 Starting Line

Marion Lougheed

As I step off the airplane, tropical heat wallops me like a bag of bananas to the face.

Mar 19
Mar 19 Toothpaste

Sharon Goldberg

I am three years old, standing on my twin bed, gazing at the wall.

Mar 18
Mar 18 To Surrender

Amy Y. Tan

Snow swirls along the icy black asphalt. I jarringly skid left . . .

Mar 14
Mar 14 Don't Be Scared

Lilo Hayes

His head rested on top of mine as his arms enveloped me. “I just get scared sometimes,” he said.

Mar 12
Mar 12 The Kill

Alice Hotopp

Dad, as always, noticed first. Giant paw prints in snow behind a granite boulder.

Mar 11
Mar 11 In Two Minds

Amita Basu

Now I’m buckling down.” I press Send before I can soften the text with lies.

Mar 8
Mar 8 Alicante

Bella Mahaya Carter

I’d heard that Europeans went topless at the beach and tried it solo the summer of my twenty-second year.

Mar 6
Mar 6 Lift-Slide-Pull

Stacy Boone

Something between a thud and a crack. Almost soundless, yet not.

Mar 5
Mar 5 Barbara&Lucille

L. Soviero

We spark the menthol loosie, purchased for a quarter.

Mar 4
Mar 4 Visiting

Marie Little

I didn't cry when I folded Dad’s clothes into Bags For Life (irony not lost).

Mar 1
Mar 1 Going Forward

Julie Noblitt

“Are you ready?” asks the minister. I look up at my father, expecting him to lead the way down the aisle.

Feb 29
Feb 29 Knowing

Xinran Maria Xiang

On a Sunday, I watch orange permeate the sky while my 18-month-old rhythmically caps, uncaps a pen, draws, and repeats.

Feb 28
Feb 28 Holding Hands

Jennifer Robinson

Canada Day and the street is full of people, full of red and white and sun and music.

Feb 27
Feb 27 No Turning Back

John Holmes

I should not have taken the canal shortcut. Not at this time of night.

Feb 26
Feb 26 Places Please

Leslie Jonas

Standing behind the heavy curtain, I quiet my excited mind.

Feb 25
Feb 25 Lash Waltz

Ann Kathryn Kelly

Tingly, in the best possible way. Fleeting, as it melts and trickles to my nose tip.

Feb 22
Feb 22 Rest (less)

Emma Wilkins

He knows to stop before the road; he always does.

Feb 21
Feb 21 First Bike

Miguel Ángel Calvo

I removed the training wheel on the right side. It was about time I took some risks.

Feb 20
Feb 20 The Deal

Amanda Lee

My brother’s been home from detox for one day and he’s telling me he needs some kind of pill.

Feb 19
Feb 19 Guinness

Beth Anne Cooke-Cornell

“Have you taken the Guinness tour?” the guide asks.

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Five Minutes features micro-memoirs, hundred-word pieces about five minutes in a life.
We’d love to read your five. Submit here. 
To receive our monthly newsletter, Five Minutes More, email susanna@fiveminutelit.com with the subject line: Newsletter.
To receive our weekly digest, containing the week’s stories, email susanna@fiveminutelit.com with the subject line: Digest.

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