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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

Jun 12
Jun 12 Night Sky

Anne Anthony

I wake my daughter, tell her it’s time.

Jun 12
Jun 12 Forever Guilty

Margo Walker

Am I really willing to die for these kids?

Jun 11
Jun 11 Reindeer Magic

Finnian Burnett

Nature and magic collided the first time I saw deer in a field behind my house.

Jun 11
Jun 11 Pistol

Jeff Kennedy

I was loitering in the parking lot when the armed robber ran out of the store.

Jun 10
Jun 10 The Past Me

Sandra Matthews

On the streets of downtown Vancouver, Gong Gong’s movements were more of a shuffle.

Jun 10
Jun 10 Not Happening

Varsha Venkatesh

“It’s adrenaline,” the psychiatrist tells my quaking body, my chattering teeth.

Jun 8
Jun 8 Vegetarian Hell

Kara Provost

A week temping in a squat building plunked along a nowhere road in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

Jun 6
Jun 6 Listen to Him

Reena Kapoor

When we reached the top of the hill we saw an ascetic in simple robes meditating.

Jun 6
Jun 6 My Teddy Bear

Michael Nagle

“No, I don’t need a wheelchair,” I say, trying to assert my autonomy, but then a nurse sees me take a shortened step — a near-miss trip.

Jun 5
Jun 5 Another Shift

Rowan Moskowitz

One moment I was doing stock and the next I locked myself in one of the bathrooms.

Jun 5
Jun 5 Suburban Sins

Marie Anderson

 He doesn’t see me, the dog walker. Not yet.

Jun 3
Jun 3 Tug

Tess Kelly

After four months of no contact I spotted him in a bar.

Jun 2
Jun 2 Yosemite Driver

George Ellor

I was on bus in Yosemite. The bus driver told us the funniest questions he’d been asked.

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.

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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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