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

Crumbled Paper

"Life is like paper. Once crumbled it can never be flattened again. Make sure not to turn your life into a crumbled one,” said the preacher. I felt this was the last nail in the coffin for the lost souls who came into the mosque seeking hope and redemption. I felt the bright surroundings getting covered in the darkness of hopelessness. “But still beautiful quotes can be written on it,” said someone from the crowd. I don't know who said it, but it brought a ray of light and hope, and it even put a smile on the preacher's face.

Abdurahiman Noushad is a part-time author from a small town in Kerala, India. Instagram: @abdurahmanaju 

Sober Mom

Sunlight