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

Enough

Her fist exploded against my shoulder, then receded with the promise of another detonation, another physical aberration from the usual verbal, mental, and emotional landmines. When did she become capable of forging this bomb? My heart thudded staccato, and I strained, pulled. Then I was free. The room blurred as I rounded the couch, my feet pounding the entryway flooring. “Shh, Baby.” I slipped my son’s coat on as he wailed, picked him up, and gripped the doorknob. Maybe he’d forget his auntie struck his mama. Memories condense at three, not two, right? “Fucking bitch! Come back.” Not this time.

Jennifer A. Weigand's short form fiction was an honorable mention in Creation Magazine’s The Midnight Hour Anthology. She is currently completing a fantasy novel. jenniferweigandwriter.com


Do It Yourself

Poor Substitute