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

A+

Assume competence, they drill into parents, but that is always easier said than done. We try, though, so it was nothing to once more teach our five-year-old how to peel a ripe banana. She pulled the skin off comfortably and stuffed her mouth with the fruit. “Yay!” we celebrated with a clap; another drill now second nature. Later, we discovered a mountain of yellow, empty skins where a dozen bananas used to be. My husband looked at me, eyebrows raised and mouth open, mirroring my expression. Then we burst out laughing. I gathered the trash and mused, lesson fully learnt.

Susanna Blagrove is a Jamaican writer and poet. She loves reading, writing, and going to the river/beach with her family, to read and write. Instagram: @susannablagrove “A+” is the Editor’s Pick for our EXCEED EXPECTATIONS contest, part of our 2026 Micromemoir Marathon.

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