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

Clotheslined

The freewheel snicks as I coast towards the apartments. It’s overcast and the asphalt is perfect. I lean left and right, then stand up, legs pumping, rocking the bike. I see a little hill near the lot and steer towards the dirt groove running up it from other kids' bikes. Never noticed before, but it looks fun—the hum from my tires disappears as I roll onto the dirt, then ride up, over the top, zoom quickly down and then … sky. I hear the bike crash nearby. A no-parking sign creaks on a chain above me. I can't breathe.

Benjamin Kieran is a stay-at-home dad of three kids, getting back into writing.

Rewe

Wooly Bully