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

April Afternoon

I held my breath. Our foreheads touched on my pillow. I heard my father’s angry voice yell my name. He didn’t have a key anymore. It was just me and my mom now and she wasn’t home from work yet. My father banged on the door. We muffled giggles, but then the banging got louder. My boyfriend’s eyes widened. I imagined that vein on my father’s temple, bulging and blue. But I knew if we stayed still long enough, he’d stop. He’d drive away. Across town to his new apartment and his single armchair. If we stayed still long enough.

Lisa Thornton is a writer and nurse. She does not condone sleeping with your boyfriend on weekday afternoons when your parents are absent.


Grandma's Car

Pronunciation