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

Day Begin

Head Adderall cleansed, tea on the coffee table, should be called tea table, haven’t been allowed coffee since my stomach said no. Blanket-tangled fidgety feet twitch on the table, are careful with the tea. Was lackadaisical with the NYT Spelling Bee, but Wordle done in two. Best parts are Zelda my corgi and Kobe my gray-muzzled mutt, sleeping on either side of me, soft like lambs. The sun is a triangle on the floor. Zelda wakes, brings me her besmirched, gutted dragon toy, wanting, needing, a walk. I know my moment of safety is over and the day has begun.

Jill Pabich lives in Salem, Massachusetts, where she walks a lot of walks with her dogs.

Bittersweet

The Herd