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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

May 20
May 20 Doctor's Orders

Christopher Ross

Most doctors do not have to give their sons this warning: When you get pulled over by the police, keep your hands on the steering wheel.

May 18
May 18 Tidying

Jill Pabich

I pick up the seven cans the dogs have licked and put them in the recycling.

May 17
May 17 Dethrone

Marita Lietz

I realize you are the King the minute you enter the classroom.

May 15
May 15 Colossus

Sonya Ewan

Colossus was a lowland gorilla I studied for a college internship, recording his behaviors.

May 14
May 14 The Quiet

Khalid Mitchell

We've locked ourselves in the band room closet because a kid brought a gun to school.

May 13
May 13 Keeping Secrets

Meli Walker

I hear my mom howling over Patsy Cline’s croon.

May 10
May 10 Stranger

Brad Snyder

I am eleven, home alone, and every creak of the floor and tat-tat-tat of the radiator sends a jolt of fear through my body.

May 9
May 9 My First Time

May Akabogu

One afternoon, I left to fetch water at the stream, my earthenware pot balanced atop my head.

May 8
May 8 Stolen Glances

Kat Abdallah

Haylie told me to wait for someone who looks at me the way Flynn Rider looks at Rapunzel, an expression I saw on your face post-show at Buffalo Wild Wings.

May 7
May 7 Popcorn

Jeff Harvey

Sam needed a ride home after band practice.

May 6
May 6 Cherry Truck

Sheri McGuinn

I was driving across country with my kids, hoping to see our friend before she went into surgery for cancer.

May 4
May 4 Elephantween

Nina Miller

I stride to class, passing towering lockers.

May 1
May 1 First Boyfriend

Sienna Lew

My finger taps anxiously at the edge of my greasy screen as I anticipate his reply.

Apr 30
Apr 30 Summit Night

Maggie Downs

“I can’t do this,” I said, plopping down on the closest boulder.

Apr 29
Apr 29 Together Again

Linda Wolff

My sister and I sit on the floor, a small wooden table covered with our mom’s and grandmother’s jewelry between us.

Apr 26
Apr 26 New Year's 2024

Gabrielle Robinson

On my New Year’s Day walk I noticed an old man looking jaunty in a red tartan scarf.

Apr 25
Apr 25 Downhill Trek

Prerna Barooah

Midway through my walk, I realize the thing I dread is about to happen.

Apr 24
Apr 24 Smash

Linda M. Bayley

Some mornings in the hospital they gave us boiled eggs, unpeeled puzzles we had to solve in our blue pyjamas.

Apr 23
Apr 23 Nero's

Tim Stiles

Up in Tahoe, Ken had a night.

Apr 22
Apr 22 Resemblance

HIlary Harper

When the Amtrak train arrived from Chicago, I stood on the platform anxiously watching as passengers began to exit.

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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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