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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 30
May 30 A Shower

François Bereaud

My brother and I are giving my dad a shower. It’s a literal shitty mess.

May 29
May 29 Open Road

Nancy Huggett

We left in a cab.

May 28
May 28 Along Fifth

Bill Lattanzi

Walking along Fifth wondering if I’ll see Warhol on the street again.

May 27
May 27 Is This My Hill?

Shuba Mohan

The door bursts open. Their voices fight for space on the air waves that carry them.

May 24
May 24 A&S Days

Ronna Mandel

The department store Tannoy startled me. “Attention shoppers, A&S closes in five minutes.”

May 22
May 22 The Night Shift

Rashmi Bhopi

She flung her bag in the backseat, removed her stethoscope from her neck, and placed it on the passenger seat.

May 21
May 21 Social Smoker

Rachel Weinhaus

Just when I’m drinking, studying for a test, finishing the test.

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.

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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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