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

Guava Jelly

Snow whirls outside my kitchen window. The jar I found at a local gourmet shop sits open on my counter. Its amber contents nudge childhood memories. I lick the knife and drift back. Guava trees flutter in the tropical breeze. Hungry from running, hiding, playing pretend, my cousin, twin sister and I —three Musketeers — flop around my aunt’s kitchen table. We laugh, slice hot Johnny cakes, spread butter. Jostle for the jar and slather with jelly. With one bite sweetness explodes. Heaven. Now, I smother my bagel with jelly. It’s not Auntie Mary’s, but it tastes of the island. Home.

A native of Sint Maarten (Caribbean), Pamela Conner lives in Beaconsfield, Quebec with her family. She loves sun, sea, travel, desserts, writing, running, and family.

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Sunday School