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

Knickknacks

Whenever my mom came over, she would, within minutes of her arrival, move all of my knickknacks around. After asking her yet again not to touch my stuff, and having my request fall on deaf ears, I woke one morning with the perfect solution. Arriving on a day I knew she walked with friends, I waved hello to my dad, then proceeded to rearrange all her tchotchkes. I sat and waited until she returned home. My one regret: no camera to capture her expression of disbelief, comprehension, then total laugh-aloud amusement. She never moved another item in my house again.

Bobbi Lerman is a writer of historical romance and travel essays, and is the founder of Scribbler's Ink, an online community/website offering writing tips, prompts and workshops. Bobbi is also a Five Minutes Founding Contributor.

The Grounded

Trans Relief