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

Dry Love

There are many things I could do right now: take out the trash, water your plants, unload the washing machine, wash the dishes, massage your shoulders, vacuum the room. I could hold your hands or play the guitar, the way I used to those years ago; sing a love song, look into your eyes. Recite a love poem. Now, Adrian and Alicia are watching TV and you are feeding Aiden, eyes on your phone in one hand and the other hand holding the milk bottle. I go into the bathroom with my phone. It will all be over too soon.

Arthur Neong hails from Malaysia and was a school teacher for eleven years. Now, he is doing his MA and writing poetry regularly. X: @darkwanderer16

Diagnosis

Night Sky